Kin
Kin - fact Summary
From and Still I Rise
"Kin" presents an elegiac recollection of a sibling bond shaped by shared childhood in the American South and strained by the brother’s self-destructive struggles. The speaker preserves intimate memories—silent walks, low-voiced talks, twilight fireflies—against adult scrutiny while registering fear, grief, and cautious hope as the brother retreats into and returns from traumatic places. The poem is grounded in Angelou’s real-life relationship with her brother Bailey Johnson Jr. and appears in the collection And Still I Rise, where personal history and resilience are recurring concerns.
Read Complete AnalysesWe were entwined in red rings Of blood and loneliness before The first snows fell Before muddy rivers seeded clouds Above a virgin forest, and Men ran naked, blue and black Skinned into the warm embraces Of Sheba, Eve and Lilith. I was your sister. You left me to force strangers Into brother molds, exacting Taxations they never Owed or could ever pay. You fought to die, thinking In destruction lies the seed Of birth. You may be right. I will remember silent walks in Southern woods and long talks In low voices Shielding meaning from the big ears Of overcurious adults. You may be right. Your slow return from Regions of terror and bloody Screams, races my heart. I hear again the laughter Of children and see fireflies Bursting tiny explosions in An Arkansas twilight.
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