The Post Office screws up its effort to honor Maya Angelou with a stamp.

They've put her smiling face next to a quote � "A bird doesn�t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song" � that she didn't write.



As WaPo reports, the quote appeared in a 1967 children's book by Joan Walsh Anglund called "A Cup of Sun." Anglund � who is 89 � says it's her original quote (except that her "he" has been changed to "it").

A Postal Service spokesman, Mark Saunders, initially said he had never heard of the Anglund quote until The Washington Post informed him of it. In response, he sent a link to a 2013 blog post interview that quoted Angelou saying the phrase. In a later statement, he also said �numerous references� attributed the the quote to her as well.

�The Postal Service used her widely recognized quote to help build an immediate connection between her image and her 1969 nationally recognized autobiography, �I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,�?� the statement said.

So, the Postal Service's answer is don't blame us, blame Angelou, who is not alive to say she never said she wasn't quoting somebody else.

Anglund is handling the spotlight well:

"It�s an interesting connection, and interesting it would happen and already be printed and on her stamp,� Anglund said. �I love her and all she�s done, and I also love my own private thinking that also comes to the public because it comes from what I�ve been thinking and how I�ve been feeling."

Bash the Post Office, say what you will about Angelou, but consider rewarding Anglund by buying her little book, "A Cup of Sun."