Thursday, January 24, 2008

Thursday poetry break

As those in the MSM fan the fire of public passion, repeatedly asking "which trumps which: race or gender?" it seems a fine day for some Audrey Lorde. You can find more of her poems and those of many others at the Poetry Foundation website.

Who Said It Was Simple

There are so many roots to the tree of anger
that sometimes the branches shatter
before they bear.

Sitting in Nedicks
the women rally before they march
discussing the problematic girls
they hire to make them free.
An almost white counterman passes
a waiting brother to serve them first
and the ladies neither notice nor reject
the slighter pleasures of their slavery.
But I who am bound by my mirror
as well as my bed
see causes in colour
as well as sex

and sit here wondering
which me will survive
all these liberations.

— Audre Lorde

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