5 poems by Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde 1934-1992

"When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak".- Audre Lorde

"Lorde writes as a Black woman, a mother, a daughter, a Lesbian, a feminist, a visionary; poems of elemental wildness and healing, nightmare and lucidity," wrote Adrienne Rich of Audre Lorde's 1976 collection of poems The Black Unicorn.

Audre Lorde listened to her mother's stories of the West Indies growing up. Born February 18, 1934 in New York City, she was the youngest of three daughters of West Indian immigrants. At birth she was nearly legally blind and did not speak until she learned to read at four years of age. As a child, she did not like how the 'y' looked at the end of Audrey and so dropped it.

She encountered racism at the Catholic schools she attended. St Mark's school was downright hostile, she later recalled. She began writing poetry in the eight grade as a form of rebellion, and published her first poem in Seventeen.

After graduating Hunter College in 1959, she attended Columbia where she earned a masters degree in library science. She married and had two children with an attorney, Edward Rollins, but divorced in 1970. Her poetry was regularly published during the 1960s. During this time she became active in civil rights, anti-war, and feminist politics. She also was involved with gay culture in Greenwich Village, where she lived.

In 1968, while she was writer-in-residence at Tougaloo College, Mississippi, she met Frances Clayton. They remained romantic partners until 1989. She had a brief affair with the sculptor Mildred Thompson in the late 70s, and was partnered with Gloria Joseph until her death.

Warrior: She Who Makes Her Meaning Known, is the meaning of Gamba Adisa, the name Lorde took in an African naming ceremony before she died on November 17, 1992 after battling breast cancer for 14 years.


Webiliography:

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/lorde/life.htm

http://www.biography.com/articles/Audre-Lorde-214108

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=4164

http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/lorde.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audre_Lorde

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/306

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[gadionson1]

amazing video

[blythe025]

Simply lovely. I always quote Lorde, but I don't get to hear or read her poetry much. Love her details. Well done.

[AllErikaEclectica]

I've always loved her riveting details. Thanks for posting Audre Lorde. (5* Fave.)

[andrewnorris1]

Coal...the concentrated essence of sunlight.

Another new discovery, thanks James.