ALL THIS MONTH OF FEB. IT'S BLACK HISTORY MONTH AND I HERE AT LIFE IN WORDS WILL BE SHOWCASING AFRICAN AMERICAN POETS.
AUDRE GERALDINE LORDE
SHE WAS BORN IN 1934 IN NEW YORK CITY AND WAS A POET, ACTIVIST AND WRITER. SHE IDENTIFIED HERSELF AS A LESBIAN AND A POET. IN HER OWN WORDS SHE SAID I AM "BLACK, LESBIAN, MOTHER, WARRIOR, POET." BEFORE SHE DIED SHE TOOK ON THE NAME GAMBA ADISA WHICH TRANSLATES TO "WARRIOR: SHE WHO MAKES HER MEANING KNOWN".
SHE WAS PUBLISHED IN LANGSTON HUGHES 1962 NEW NEGRO POETS, USA ALSO IN BLACK LITERARY MAGAZINES IN THE 1960'S. SHE WAS A STRONG PERSON IN HER VIEWS WITH CIVIL RIGHTS, ANTI-WAR AND FEMINIST MOVEMENTS. SHE PUBLISHED HER FIRST BOOK IN 1968.HER CRAFT IS ICONIC FOR THE WORD. SHE IS A MASTER AT WHAT SHE DID. LORDE WAS A MASTER AT WORDS NOT ONLY IN POETRY BUT IN SPEECHES. SHE STATED THAT:RACISM, SEXISM AND HOMOPHOBIA WERE ALL LINKED AND WAS ABOUT PEOPLE NOT WILLING TO ACCEPT DIFFERENCES. HER POETRY WAS A MIXED REALITY OF AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL LIFE. SHE STATED THAT LIFE IS TEXT.
"I am defined as other in every group I'm part of. "The outsider, both strength and weakness. Yet without community there is certainly no liberation, no future, only the most vulnerable and temporary armistice between me and my oppression".---LORDE
SHE PUBLISHED 15 BOOKS IN HER LIFE TIME AND WAS IN MANY OTHER PUBLICATIONS. SHE BECAME POET LAUREATE OF NEW YORK FROM 1991-1992. SADLY HER MORTAL VOICE WAS SILENCED WHEN SHE DIED IN 1997 FROM BREAST CANCER BUT HER IMMORTAL VOICE OF POETRY WILL LIVE FOREVER. SHE IS A MASTER AND A TRUE ONE OF A KIND POET.
POEM SPOTLIGHT:
The Black Unicorn
The black unicorn is greedy.
The black unicorn is impatient.
'The black unicorn was mistaken
for a shadow or symbol
and taken
through a cold country
where mist painted mockeries
of my fury.
It is not on her lap where the horn rests
but deep in her moonpit
growing.
The black unicorn is restless
the black unicorn is unrelenting
the black unicorn is not
free.
by Audre Lorde
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