Poor Girl - Maya Angelou

No one can love you like I love you! Maya Angelou, the author of the poem, “Poor Girl,” wrote a poem illustrating her loneliness and hurt from the loss of an ex-boyfriend. This poem is about Maya, who also went through similar experiences of loss with an ex-boyfriend. Now it seems like the man is just using this new love as a rebound to forget about Maya; however, Maya knows that he is going to break the girl’s heart, just like he broke hers, and she is going to feel the pain Maya feels. The poor girl is an indication of the girl who Maya’s ex-boyfriend cheated on her with. “Poor Girl” is based on the loss of Maya’s love to a different woman and feeling devastation, and hurt because of her loss.

The first stanza makes it clear about what is happening in this poem and is illustrating that Maya is going through a hard time losing someone to somebody else. “You’ve got another love/ and I know it” (1-2). Maya is sad and hurt. She feels like she has been basically replaced, and does not know what went wrong. Also, she feels like the new love is just a rebound. Then she states, “Someone who adores you/ just like me” (3-4). This line is indicating that the new love is falling for him as hard as Maya fell for him, too. Maya does not understand what went wrong in their relationship or what she did to make him leave, but she knows there is nothing she can do to get him back or make him leave the new lover.

In the second stanza Maya is realizing that he is just using the new love like he was doing to her, so she threatens him that she is going to let the new lover know about his little games. “You’re breaking another heart/ and I know it” (11-12). She now figures it out that the other girl is just a rebound, and her ex-boyfriend does not want Maya to figure it out that he is just using her or try and ruin his new fake relationship with his new lover.

If I try to tell her

What I know

She’ll misunderstand

And make me go (15-18).

Maya realizes there is nothing she can say or do to stop her from being with him or stop her from getting her heart broken too. If she tries to explain, to her what she is in for; she will not listen, she will not care, just like Maya did, and she will just make Maya leave. The new love will not understand and ignore everything Maya has to say, and just leave Maya hanging there, looking like a fool.

In the third stanza it states about how the new love is going to now see how Maya feels, and finally realize that she was right and she should have just listened to her. “You’re going to leave her too/ and I know it” (21-22). Maya knows that he will leave his new lover, and once he does, the new love will realize that when he does break her heart that she was warned. “Then she’ll begin/ to sing this song” (27-28). The new lover finally feels guilt and