Maya Angelou's On The Pulse Of Morning

“On the pulse of morning” describes the challenges facing American people through personification. The tree, river and rock have become symbols for peace, security, wisdom, humanity and freedom available to all people of every background and circumstance. People have been using hurtful and damaging words and language for far too long, though they were created for greater realities. “Have lain too long face down in ignorance. Your mouths spilling words armed for slaughter.” (Angelou) Return to a wisdom before you believed people were motivated by self-interest. “Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your brow and when you yet knew you still knew nothing.” (Angelou)
The struggle for peace was also a common challenge in the late 20th and early

21st century. “Yet today I call you to my riverside, if you will study war no more.” The poem ends with the author demanding the audience to set aside their differences because they are all deserving of grace and peace. One Day is also expressing how we live in today's time and how important the past is to the future. “All of us as vital as the one light we move through,
the same light on blackboards with lessons for the day.” (Blanco) “The poem is about everyday America, the mystery of how such different people come together and elect a president. By this, Richard Blanco’s “One Day” captures the balance of the normal day, nothing particularly spectacular, but like humans, the amalgamation of days creates the wonder of life and time.” (Bells)