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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: LORDE, AUDRE Matches Found: 334 Lorde, Audre Poet's Biography Alternate Author Name(s): Adisa-warrior, Gamba 334 poems available by this author 125TH STREET AND ABOMEY First Line: Head bent, walking through snow Last Line: All the world shall remember A SONG FOR MANY MOVEMENTS Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Nobody wants to die on the way Subject(s): Social Protest A WOMAN SPEAKS Poem Text First Line: Moon marked and touched by sun Subject(s): African Americans - Women ABOUT RELIGION First Line: After church Last Line: And even my mother %grudgingly %flung down AFTER A FIRST BOOK First Line: Paper is neither kind nor cruel Last Line: With which to cool my husband's dinner AFTERIMAGES Poem Text First Line: However the image enters Subject(s): African Americans; Racism; Jackson, Mississippi; Till, Emmett (1941-1955); Negroes; American Blacks; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry AFTERIMAGES First Line: However the image enters Last Line: A woman begins to weep AFTERLOVE First Line: In what had been a pathway Last Line: To make my world %whole again ALL HALLOWS EVE First Line: My mother taught each one of us Last Line: And we went to bed %without replacing them AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY OR THERE IS MORE THAN ONE WAY First Line: Of all the ways in which this country Last Line: And far more lethal than emphysema AND DON'T THINK I WON'T BE WAITING First Line: I am suipposed to say Last Line: Under a covering cloud %of my tears AND FALL SHALL SIT IN JUDGMENT First Line: Through the long winter Last Line: Is false, but the same AND WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN First Line: Now we've made a child Last Line: He won't care %about his %hair %nor give a damn %whose wife %I am ANNIVERSARY First Line: The bitter tears are stone Last Line: And I rlemembered %and I wept ART OF RESPONSE First Line: The first answer was incorrect Last Line: The fifteenth %changed the question ARTISAN First Line: In workshops without light Last Line: There %your craft shows AS I GROW UP AGAIN First Line: A little boy wears my mistakes Last Line: I do not need to know AT FIRST I THOUGHT YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT First Line: Do you think I guess inasmuch as Last Line: At first I thought you were talking %about BALLAD FOR ASHES First Line: Nobody lives Last Line: Slit his lips like a sieve BALLAD FROM CHILDHOOD First Line: Mommy mommy come and see Last Line: I don't fatten frogs to feed snakes BARREN First Line: Your lashes leave me naked in the square Last Line: But she and I have come this way %before BAZAAR First Line: The lay back women are cooking Last Line: Still have milk in their breasts BEAMS First Line: In the afternoon sun Last Line: We forget what is not possible BEES First Line: In the street outside a school Last Line: We could have studied honey-making BERLIN IS HARD ON COLORED GIRLS First Line: Perhaps a strange woman Last Line: A banana skin is wilting BETWEEN OURSELVES (1) First Line: Once when I walked into a room Last Line: And landing upon their heads BETWEEN OURSELVES (2) First Line: Once when I walked into a room Last Line: And landing upon their heads BEVERLY'S POEM First Line: I don't need to be rich Last Line: To get bored %with anemones BICENTENNIAL POEM #21,000,000 First Line: I know Last Line: That have no earth to fall upon BIG APPLE CIRCUS First Line: Used to be Last Line: And we cannot hear the guns %across the river BIRTHDAY MEMORIAL TO SEVENTH STREET First Line: I tarry in days shaped like the high staired street Last Line: Will not die politely %either BLACK MOTHER WOMAN Poem Text First Line: I cannot recall you gentle Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Mothers & Daughters; Women BLACK MOTHER WOMAN First Line: I cannot recall you gentle Last Line: To define myself %through your denials Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Mothers And Daughters; Women BLACK UNICORN First Line: The black unicorn is greedy Last Line: The black unicorn is not free BLACKSTUDIES First Line: A chill wind sweeps the high places Last Line: Leap groundward %wondering %what shall they carve for weapons %what shall they grow for food BLOODBIRTH First Line: That which is inside of me screaming Last Line: Bent on our conjugating business BRIDGE THROUGH MY WINDOWS First Line: In curve scooped out and necklaced with light Last Line: We search each other's shore for some crossing home BROTHER ALVIN Poem Text First Line: In the seat that we shared in the second grade Subject(s): Education; Schools; Students BROTHER ALVIN First Line: In the seat that we shared in the second grade Last Line: Hoping to find some new spelling %of your name Subject(s): Education; Schools BROWN MENACE OR POEM TO THE SURVIVAL OF ROACHES First Line: Call me Last Line: To survive %to survive %survive BUILDING First Line: Gloria has a permit Last Line: In a lot %of different places BURNING THE WATER HYACINTH First Line: We flame the river Last Line: Trying to touch %what matters BUT WHAT CAN YOU TEACH MY DAUGHTER First Line: What do you mean Last Line: But what you do %not know %can kill CABLES TO RAGE OR I'VE BEEN TALKING ON THIS STREET CORNER First Line: This is how I came to be loved Last Line: Of 125th street and lenox CALL First Line: Holy ghost woman %stolen out of your name Last Line: Aido hwedo is coming CHAIN First Line: Faces surround me that have no smell or color no time Last Line: How do I learn to love her %as you have loved me? Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Child Molesting; Incest CHANGE First Line: In whose bed Last Line: Teach me %to leave dreams alone CHANGE OF SEASON First Line: Am I to be cursed forever with becoming Last Line: Summer goes into my words %and comes out reason CHILD SHALL LEAD First Line: I have a child Last Line: And I am grown %past knowledge CHORUS First Line: Sun %make me whole again Last Line: Mozart %was a white dude COAL Poem Text First Line: I / is the total black, being spoken / from the earth's inside Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Language; Words; Vocabulary COAL First Line: I %is the total black, being spoken %from the earth's inside Last Line: Now take my word for jewel in the open light Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Language COMPASSION'S BIRD First Line: I know the incapacity of dream Last Line: Of love's structured star, love's own mandarin CONCLUSION First Line: Passing men in the street who are dead Last Line: Whenever nightmare threatens CONIAGUI WOMEN First Line: The coniagui women Last Line: They become men CONSTRUCTION First Line: Timber seasons better Last Line: That will stand forever CONTACT LENSES First Line: Lacking what they want to see Last Line: And my eyes hurt CONVERSATION IN CRISIS First Line: I speak to you as a friend speaks Last Line: Until the storm passes over COPING First Line: It has rained for five days Last Line: Forget %and drown easily DAHOMEY First Line: It was in abomey that I felt Last Line: In the seasons of rain DAY THEY EULOGIZED MAHALIA Last Line: The day the city eulogized mahalia Subject(s): Popular Culture - United States DEAR JOE First Line: How many other dark young men at 33 Last Line: A drag-queen with burgundy long-johns %and a dental dam in his mouth %is buying a straight-razor DEAR TONI INSTEAD OF A LETTER OF CONGRATULATION ON BOOK First Line: I can see your daughter walking down streets of love Last Line: That they will come to love %as I love you DEATH DANCE FOR A POET First Line: Hidden in a forest of questions Last Line: And her range of vision %the executioners advance DEPRECIATION First Line: First the plumbing breaks down Last Line: We promise each other %future celebrations DIASPORA First Line: Afraid is a country with no exit visas Last Line: Grenades held dry in a calabash %leaving DIGGING First Line: In the rusty pages of gray's anatomy Last Line: Touching the organ's place DO YOU REMEMBER LAURA First Line: Alive Last Line: But does not self-destruct DOMINO First Line: On thursday she buried her featherbed Last Line: Imagine yourself %alabama %wanting to weep DON JOSE ENCOUNTERS EL CORDOBES First Line: You wake in cordoba Last Line: Annaeus remembers death without end, rich loam DOZENS First Line: Nothing says that you must see me in the street Last Line: Runs out of worlds %one for each foot DREAM/SONGS FROM THE MOON OF BEULAH LAND I-V First Line: How much love can I pour into you I said Last Line: To the dead surface %of the moon DREAMS BITE Last Line: When I am obsolete DREAMS BITE Last Line: When I am obsolete EAST BERLIN First Line: It feels dangerous now Last Line: Only in the approaching tasks ECHO First Line: I hear myself drought caught Last Line: Hang like a sheet of brick-caught silk %torn in the sun ECHOES First Line: There is a timbre of voice Last Line: I do not know ELECTRIC SLIDE BOOGIE First Line: New year's day 1:16 am Last Line: Hard hard it is to sleep %in the middle of the day Subject(s): Holidays; New Year EQUAL OPPORTUNITY First Line: The american deputy assistant secretary of defense Last Line: Through a lake of her own blood EQUINOX First Line: My daughter marks the day that spring begins Last Line: In order to go on living ETHIOPIA Poem Text First Line: Seven years without milk Subject(s): Children; Childhood ETHIOPIA First Line: Seven years without milk Last Line: The delicate embroideries %of bone Subject(s): Children EULOGY First Line: A girl in my sister's house Last Line: But never bleed again EULOGY FOR ALVIN FROST First Line: Black men bleeding to death inside themselves Last Line: And there are so few %left EVEN First Line: Nothing Last Line: Away from the trees EVENING NEWS First Line: I am kneading my bread winnie mandela Last Line: I have never herd their names spoken EVENING NEWS First Line: First rule of the road %attend quiet victims first Last Line: Second rule of the road %any wound will stop bleeding %if you press down hard enough EVERY TRAVELER HAS ONE VERMONT POEM Poem Text First Line: Spikes of lavender aster under route 91 Subject(s): Americans; United States; America EVERY TRAVELER HAS ONE VERMONT POEM First Line: Spikes of lavender aster under route 91 Last Line: Into cropped and fragrant air Subject(s): Americans; United States FALLEN First Line: Bright uncanny music was beating through the room Last Line: Told far more truth FAMILY RESEMBLANCE First Line: My sister has my hair my mouth my eyes Last Line: And I presume her trustless as a stone FANTASY AND CONVERSATION Poem Text First Line: Speckled frogs leap from my mouth FANTASY AND CONVERSATION First Line: Speckled frogs leap from my mouth Last Line: Before our magic %turns colour FATHER SON AND HOLY GHOST Poem Text First Line: I have not ever seen my father's grave Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Graves; Tombs; Tombstones FATHER SON AND HOLY GHOST First Line: I have not ever seen my father's grave Last Line: Lest I go into dust %I have not ever seen my father's grave Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Graves FATHER THE YEAR HAS FALLEN Last Line: I shall bear in the snow FATHER, THE YEAR IS FALLEN Last Line: I shall bear in the snow FATHER, THE YEAR IS FALLEN Last Line: When the last warmth is gone %I shall bear in the snow FISHING THE WHITE WATER First Line: Men claim the easiest spots Last Line: Our rhythms pass through the trees %staking a claim in difficult places %we head for the source FLORIDA First Line: Black people fishing the causeway Last Line: And begin a five-day fast FOG REPORT First Line: In this misty place where hunger finds us Last Line: Tethered like a goat %in my heart's yard FOR ASSATA First Line: In this new picture your smile has been to war Last Line: At the back of your cell FOR CRAIG First Line: If I call you son and not brother Last Line: And a brush of bells FOR EACH OF YOU First Line: Be who you are and will be Last Line: And your mother was %a princess %in darkness FOR JOSE AND REGINA First Line: Childen of war Last Line: Relieved %by a definite reason FOR JUDITH First Line: Hanging out Last Line: But learning %each other's ways FOR MY SINGING SISTER First Line: Little sister, not all black Last Line: With a silver stake %through your heart FOR THE KING AND QUEEN OF SUMMER (1976) First Line: The land of flowers is dusty Last Line: As he makes a shithouse %under their throne FOR THE RECORD; IN MEMORY OF ELEANOR BUMPURS Poem Text First Line: Call out the colored girls Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Alienation (social Psychology); Bumpurs, Eleanor; Exiles; Labor & Laborers; Violence; Estrangement; Outcasts; Work; Workers FOR THE RECORD; IN MEMORY OF ELEANOR BUMPURS First Line: Call out the colored girls Last Line: Planning their return %and they weren't even %sisters Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Alienation (social Psychology); Bumpurs, Eleanor; Exiles; Labor And Laborers; Violence FROM INSIDE AN EMPTY PURSE First Line: Money cannot buy you Last Line: I am trying to reach %you before %you fall in %to me FROM THE CAVE First Line: Last night an old man warned me Last Line: A bath of old roses FROM THE GREENHOUSE First Line: Summer rains like my blood cries Last Line: Now my blood merges %into your dreaming FROM THE HOUSE OF YEMANJA Poem Text First Line: My mother had two faces and a frying pot Subject(s): Mothers FROM THE HOUSE OF YEMANJA First Line: My mother had two faces and a frying pot Last Line: Where day and night shall meet %and not be %one Subject(s): Mothers FUTURE PROMISE First Line: This house will not stand forever Last Line: This house %will not stand %forever GEMINI First Line: Moon minded the sun goes farther from us Last Line: And love was a burning fence about my house GEMINI First Line: Moon minded the sun goes farther from us Last Line: And love was a burning fence about my house GENERATION First Line: How the young attempt and are broken Last Line: Is a turn of the mirror %time's question only GENERATION II First Line: A black girl Last Line: Of both %their angers GENERATION III First Line: Give back the life I gave Last Line: In the enemy's tongue GHOST First Line: Since I don't want to trip over your silence Last Line: Trying to remember GIRLFRIEND First Line: It's almost a year and I still Last Line: At the sound %of her beloved voice GOOD MIRRORS ARE NOT CHEAP First Line: It is a waste of time hating a mirror Last Line: Selling us %new clowns %at cut rate HANGING FIRE Poem Text First Line: I am fourteen / and my skin has betrayed me Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Teenagers; United States - Race Relations HANGING FIRE First Line: I am fourteen %and my skin has betrayed me Last Line: And momma's in the bedroom %with the door closed Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Teenagers; U.s. - Race Relations HARD LOVE ROCK First Line: Today I heard my heart screeching like a subway train Last Line: And when it was over %only pain HARD LOVE ROCK #II First Line: Listen brother love you Last Line: As well as %from my side HARRIET Poem Text First Line: Harriet there was always somebody calling us crazy Last Line: "waht name shall we call our selves / now Subject(s): African Americans – Women; Sisters; Death – Mothers HARRIET First Line: Harriet there was always somebody calling us crazy Last Line: What name shall we call our selves now %our mother is gone? Subject(s): African Americans - Women HOLOGRAPHS First Line: One hundred and fifty million truth seekers Last Line: Is the burn of the blood HOME First Line: We arrived at my mother's island Last Line: It no longer mattered HORSE CASTS A SHOE First Line: The horse casts a shoe Last Line: Our names %a crostic for touch HUGO I First Line: A coral stone at the edge of bufano road Last Line: But the wind is our teacher I DIE FOR ALL MYSTERIOUS THINGS First Line: The hanged man Last Line: Nor %less %sane IF YOU COULD COME SOFTLY Poem Text Subject(s): Togetherness IN MARGARET'S GARDEN First Line: When I first saw you blooming the color was now Last Line: I will not tell INHERITANCE -- HIS First Line: My face resembles your face Last Line: The power of unshared secrets JESSEHELMS First Line: I am a black woman Last Line: Your turn now jessehelms %come on it's time %to lick the handwriting %off the walls JOURNEYSTONES I-XI First Line: Maxine %I used to admire your talent Last Line: And without child JUDITH'S FANCY First Line: Half-built Last Line: Are you coming to babysit me KEYFOOD First Line: In the keyfood market on broadway Last Line: Can they buy each other KITCHEN LINOLEUM Poem Text First Line: The cockroach / who is dying Subject(s): Shame KITCHEN LINOLEUM First Line: The cockroach %who is dying Last Line: Each other's shame Subject(s): Shame LAKE IN CENTRAL PARK First Line: It should have a woman's name Last Line: Screams in the birth of her fading away LEARNING TO WRITE First Line: Is the alphabet responsible Last Line: To be buried alive %with the liars LEGACY -- HERS First Line: When love leaps from my mouth Last Line: Of that terrible acrostic LETTER FOR JAN First Line: No I don't think you were chicken not to speak Last Line: With my own black song LIGHTLY First Line: Don't make waves Last Line: What will wave back %to all that LITANY FOR SURVIVAL First Line: For those of us who live at the shoreline Last Line: We were never meant to survive LOVE POEM Poem Text First Line: Speak earth and bless me with what is richest Subject(s): Gays & Lesbians; Homoeroticism; Lesbians; Gay Women; Gay Men LOVE POEM First Line: Speak earth and bless me with what is richest Subject(s): Homosexuality LOVE, MAYBE First Line: Always Last Line: To conqueror me home LOVER'S SONG First Line: Give me fire and I will sing you morning Last Line: In a dark room LUNAR EXLIPSE First Line: Last night I watched the moon go out Last Line: Out of my life %so you are not MAIDEN First Line: Once I was immortal beside an ocean Last Line: Mouthing the ocean names of night MAKING IT First Line: My body arcing across your white place Last Line: What we wish to be given %ourselves MAKING LOVE TO CONCRETE First Line: An upright abutment in the mouth Last Line: Propped up on barrels %across the mined terrain %between forgiving too easily %and never giving at a MARTHA First Line: Martha this is a catalog of days Last Line: The nearest you've come to living yourself MAWU First Line: In this white room full of strangers Last Line: Death is not a disease MEET First Line: Woman when we met on the solstice Last Line: Before we shall both be slain MEETING OF MINDS First Line: In a dream Last Line: Is a white pencil %that writes %alone MEMORIAL I Poem Text First Line: If you come as softly Subject(s): Women MEMORIAL I First Line: If you come as softly Last Line: Shall drink our tears Subject(s): Women MEMORIAL II First Line: Genevieve Last Line: Your eyes are blinding me genevieve MEMORIAL III FROM A PHONE BOOTH ON BROADWAY First Line: Some time turns inside out Last Line: I shall ever call %you MEMORIAL IV First Line: As my hert burned Last Line: An answer will come MENTOR First Line: Scaling your words like crags I found Last Line: Each to our separate house MONKEYMAN First Line: There is a strange man attached to my backbone Last Line: I did not hear him MORNING IS A TIME FOR MIRACLES First Line: A core of the conversations we never had %lies in the distance Last Line: I wanted you %to talk %not as a healer %but as a lonely woman %talking to a friend Variant Title(s): Sister, Morning Is A Time For Miracle MOVEMENT SONG Poem Text First Line: I have studied the tight curls on the back of your neck Subject(s): Relationships; Love - Loss Of MOVEMENT SONG First Line: I have studied the tight curls on the back of your neck Last Line: Saying we cannot waste time %only ourselves MOVING IN First Line: Salt bread and broom Last Line: Here this house %forever blessed MOVING OUT OR THE END OF COOPERATIVE LIVING First Line: I am so glad to be moving Last Line: And so becoming %pretension concretized MY FIFTH TRIP TO WASHINGTON ENDED IN NORTHEAST DELAWARE First Line: Halfway between the rain and washington Last Line: The indians aren't attacking NAMING THE STORIES First Line: Otter and quaking aspen Last Line: And the light is broken %clear NATURALLY Poem Text First Line: Since naturally black is naturally beautiful Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Pride; Self-esteem; Self-respect NATURALLY First Line: Since naturally black is naturally beautiful Last Line: Proud beautiful black women %could better make use %black bread Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Pride NEED: A CHORAL OF BLACK WOMEN'S VOICES First Line: This woman is black Last Line: We cannot live without our lives NEIGHBORS First Line: We made strong poems for each other Last Line: The other was always %lying %in wait NEVER TAKE FIRE FROM A WOMAN First Line: My sister and I Last Line: Who smells like love NEVER TO DREAM OF SPIDERS Poem Text First Line: Time collapses between the lips of strangers Subject(s): Transience; Conduct Of Life; Impermanence NEVER TO DREAM OF SPIDERS First Line: Time collapses between the lips of strangers Last Line: A burst of light NEW YEAR'S DAY First Line: The day feels put together hastily Last Line: I am deliberate %and afraid %of nothing NEW YORK CITY 1970 First Line: How do you spell change like frayed slogan underwear Last Line: Of once beautiful children NIGHT-BLOOMING JASMINE First Line: Lady of the night star-breathed Last Line: Riding the shadows of conquering air NIGHTSTONE First Line: No man is robbed of stone, of a dead root Last Line: Holding me from the blasphemies %of hunger NOW First Line: Woman power Last Line: I am %are you %ready NOW THAT I AM FOREVER WITH CHILD Poem Text First Line: How the days went Subject(s): Birth; Pregnancy; Child Birth; Midwifery NOW THAT I AM FOREVER WITH CHILD First Line: How the days went Last Line: I can only distinguish %one thread within running hours %you...Flowing through selves %toward you Subject(s): Birth; Pregnancy NOW THAT I AM FOREVER WITH CHILD First Line: How the days went Last Line: You... Flowing through selves toward you OAXACA First Line: Beneath the carving drag of wood Last Line: But lightning comes OCTOBER First Line: Spirits Last Line: Do not let me die %still %needing to be a stranger OCTOBER First Line: Spirits of the abnormally born %live on in water Last Line: For this tree under which I am lying %do not let me die %still %needing to be stranger OLD DAYS First Line: Everyone wants to know Last Line: As our vigils began ON A NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON Poem Text First Line: Out of my flesh that hungers Subject(s): Lust; Women ON A NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON First Line: Out of my flesh that hungers Last Line: Judging your roundness %delightful Subject(s): Lust; Women ON MIDSUMMER'S EVE First Line: Ride the swing season Last Line: You do not learn ON MY WAY OUT I PASSED OVER YOU AND THE VERRAZANO BRIDGE First Line: Leaving leaving Last Line: And necessary as water ON THE EDGE First Line: A blade in the bed of a child Last Line: That needs %the moon's loving ONE WHO GOT AWAY First Line: The youngest sister Last Line: Through the slanting rain ONE YEAR TO LIFE ON THE GRAND CENTRAL SHUTTLE First Line: If we hate the rush hour subways Last Line: What token we may %for change OSHUN'S TABLE First Line: How the fruit lay at your feet Last Line: Untrustworthy %and brave OUT OF THE WIND First Line: For the days when the coffee grounds refuse to settle Last Line: Mingled in tulips %after brief rain OUT TO THE HARD ROAD First Line: The road to southampton is layered with days Last Line: Reluctance lining my mouth %potatoe dust on the last shortcut %out %to a new september morning OUTLINES First Line: What hue lies in the slit of anger Last Line: If we win %there is no telling Subject(s): Homosexuality OUTSIDE First Line: In the center of a harsh and spectrumed city Last Line: Who are come to make our shattered faces %whole OYA First Line: God of my father discovered at midnight Last Line: Now free me %quickly %before I destroy you PAPERWEIGHT First Line: Paper is neither kind nor cruel Last Line: With which to cool my husband's dinner PARTING First Line: I talk to rocks Last Line: With your moon-rock's name PARTING First Line: Belligerent and beautiful as a trapped ibis Last Line: For moisture %cactus tongued PARTY TIME First Line: Newspapers printed in secret report Last Line: And I come next behind her %in our dance PATHWAYS: FROM MOTHER TO MOTHER First Line: Tadpoles are legless and never learn to curtsy Last Line: Out %of the presence of kings PEACE ON EARTH First Line: A six-pointed star Last Line: The crackling yule log %in an iron grate PIROUETTE (1) First Line: I saw Last Line: I am come home PIROUETTE (2) First Line: I saw Last Line: I cannot return POEM FOR A POET First Line: I think of a coffin's quiet Last Line: Buried down there in north carolina POEM FOR WOMEN IN RAGE First Line: A killing summer heat wraps up the city Last Line: I remember this knife %it carved its message into my sleeping %she only read its warning %written up POLITICAL RELATIONS First Line: In a hotel in tashkent Last Line: With the latvian delegate from riga Subject(s): Homosexuality POLITICS OF ADDICTION First Line: 17 luxury condominiums electronically protected Last Line: Flashing through her words %'if we had capitalism %the tomatoes would be here now' PORTRAIT First Line: Strong women Last Line: As they swayed on their own way %home POWER Poem Text First Line: The difference between poetry and rhetoric Subject(s): Gays & Lesbians; Homoeroticism; Lesbians; Gay Women; Gay Men POWER First Line: The difference between poetry and rhetoric Last Line: Poor thing. She never hurt a soul. What beasts they are Subject(s): Homosexuality PRISM First Line: There are no frogs in soweto Last Line: Write us a poem PRODUCTION First Line: 100,000 bees make a sturdy hive Last Line: Two dollars at a time PROGRESS REPORT First Line: These days Last Line: From behind closed doors PROGRESS REPORT First Line: These days %when you do say hello I am PROLOGUE First Line: Haunted by poems beginning with I Last Line: And the grasses will still be %singing QUESTION OF CLIMATE First Line: I learned to be honest Last Line: Was a declaration of war QUESTION OF ESSENCE First Line: In arlesheim Last Line: When it starts to burn RECREATION Poem Text First Line: Coming together / it is easier to work Subject(s): Love - Erotic RECREATION First Line: Coming together %it is easier to work Last Line: And take you made %into me Subject(s): Erotic Love REINS First Line: Refuse the meat of a female animal Last Line: After the sun goes down RELEASE TIME First Line: I came to their white Last Line: And less terror %for our children RELEVANT IS DIFFERENT POINTS ON THE CIRCLE First Line: History Last Line: Are being hunted down the federal canyons %of yellowstone park RESTORATION: A MEMORIAL -- 9/18/91 First Line: Berlin again after chemotherapy Last Line: Learning to laugh again RETURN First Line: You did not clock the falling of the leaves Last Line: To face the dark alone REVOLUTION IS ONE FORM OF SOCIAL CHANGE First Line: When the man is busy Last Line: After all %where it all began RITES OF PASSAGE First Line: Now rock the boat to a fare-thee-well Last Line: Through dream RITES OF PASSAGE; TO MLK JR. First Line: Now rock the boat to a fare-thee-well Last Line: We are growing through dream ROCK THROWN INTO THE WATER DOES NOT FEAR THE COLD First Line: In front of the city hotel in kumasi Last Line: As darkness overtakes them ROOMING HOUSES ARE OLD WOMEN Poem Text First Line: Rooming houses are old women Last Line: "unknown and desired / Subject(s): Rooming & Boarding Houses ROOMING HOUSES ARE OLD WOMEN Last Line: Unknown and desired %but not new ROOMING HOUSES ARE OLD WOMEN Last Line: Unknown and desired %and not new SACRIFICE First Line: The only hungers left Last Line: Is the sacrifice of desire SAHARA First Line: High %above this desert Last Line: I too will unmask my dark %hard rock sand SAME DEATH OVER AND OVER OR LULLABIES ARE FOR CHILDREN First Line: It's the small deaths in the supermarket Last Line: Did not fire because he saw a girl SCAR First Line: This is a simple poem Last Line: An astonishment %of soft black curly hair SCHOOL NOTE First Line: My children play with skulls Last Line: That cannot be %home %nor is SEASONING First Line: What am I ready to lose in this advancing summer Last Line: As I glue up my lips with the promise %of coming winter SECOND SPRING First Line: We have no passions left to love the spring Last Line: Binding cold love to us with the corners of her shroud SEPARATION First Line: The stars dwindle Last Line: Decorates the snow SEQUELAE First Line: Because a burning sword notches both of my doorposts Last Line: I have died too many deaths %that were not mine SEVENTH SENSE First Line: Women %who build nations Last Line: By the rising sea SEWERPLANT GROWS IN HARLEM OR I'M A STRANGER HERE MYSELF First Line: How is the word made flesh made steel made shit Last Line: Talking to some people is like talking to a toilet SIGNS First Line: No one is left here to eat by my fire Last Line: They shall never return SISTER OUTSIDER Poem Text First Line: We were born in a poor time Subject(s): African Americans - Women SISTER OUTSIDER First Line: We were born in a poor time Last Line: And beyond fear Subject(s): African Americans - Women SISTERS IN ARMS Poem Text First Line: The edge of our bed was a wide grid Subject(s): Gays & Lesbians; Death - Children; South Africa; Racism; Homoeroticism; Lesbians; Gay Women; Gay Men; Death - Babies; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry SISTERS IN ARMS First Line: The edge of our bed was a wide grid Last Line: Dreams of durban sometimes %visions the deep wry song of beach pebbles %running after the sea SMALL SLAUGHTER First Line: Day breaks without thanks or caution Last Line: I am the mouth %of your scorn SMELLING THE WIND First Line: Rushing headlong Last Line: Save the marvelous arithmetics %of distance SOHO CINEMA First Line: The woman who lives at 830 broadway Last Line: Sailing into the sunset SOLSTICE First Line: We forgot to water the plantain shoots Last Line: May I owe nothing that I cannot pay SONG First Line: The wild trees have bought me Last Line: That loves me too late SONG FOR A THIN SISTER First Line: Either heard or taught Last Line: Or silly %but always %white SONG FOR MANY MOVEMENTS First Line: Nobody wants to die on the way Last Line: More important %than our silence SONG OF NAMES AND FACES First Line: I walk across noon with you today Last Line: Or forget you exist at all SONGLESS LARK First Line: Sun shines so brightly on the hill Last Line: A songless lark now sings SOWING First Line: It is the sink of the afternoon Last Line: Whose name should be you SPEECHLESS First Line: At the foot of the steps a forest Last Line: Around which your name blossoms %distorted SPRING III First Line: Spring is the harshest Last Line: To solve our loving SPRING PEOPLE First Line: What anger in my hard-won bones Last Line: What face we had %what startling eyes STARTING ALL OVER AGAIN First Line: It's great to be able to call you Last Line: In what do you believe STATIONS First Line: Some women love Last Line: So they change %themselves STORY BOOKS ON A KITCHEN TABLE (1976) Poem Text First Line: Out of her womb of pain my mother spat me Subject(s): Mothers & Daughters; Women STORY BOOKS ON A KITCHEN TABLE (1976) First Line: Out of her womb of pain my mother spat me Last Line: For the vanished mother %of a black girl Subject(s): Mothers And Daughters; Women SUFFER THE CHILDREN First Line: Pity for him who suffers from his waste Last Line: Given to the dust SUMMER ORACLE First Line: Without expectation Last Line: I smell it in the charred breeze blowing over %your body %close %hard %esential %under its cloak of Subject(s): Alphabet Verse SUMMER ORACLE First Line: Without exception %there is no end Last Line: Under its cloak of lies Subject(s): African Americans - Women SUSPENSION First Line: We entered silence Last Line: As the center of your palms %and as unfree SYRACUSE AIRPORT First Line: Clean jeans and comfortable shoes Last Line: Who take up space %are called sloppy TEACHER Poem Text First Line: I make my children promises in wintry afternoons Subject(s): Education; Mothers & Daughters; Schools; Teaching & Teachers; Women; Students; Educators; Professors TEACHER First Line: I make my children promises in wintry afternoons Last Line: Promise corrupts %what it does not invent Subject(s): Education; Mothers And Daughters; Schools; Teaching And Teachers; Women THANKS TO JESSE JACKSON First Line: The us and the ussr Last Line: And none in the united states THAW First Line: The language of past seasons Last Line: If we survive at all THE BLACK UNICORN Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: The black unicorn is greedy Subject(s): Unicorns; Racism; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry THE DAY THEY EULOGIZED MAHALIA Poem Text THE ELECTRIC SLIDE BOOGIE Poem Text First Line: New year's day 1:16 am Subject(s): Holidays; New Year THE WOMAN THING Poem Text First Line: The hunters are back from beating the winter's face Subject(s): African Americans - Women THE WOMEN OF DAN DANCE WITH SWORDS IN THEIR HANDS ... Poem Text First Line: I did not fall from the sky Subject(s): Africa; Women THERAPY First Line: Trying to see you Last Line: A part from my self THERE ARE NO HONEST POEMS ABOUT DEAD WOMEN First Line: What do we want from each other Last Line: Obscure the vowels THIS URN CONTAINS EARTH FROM GERMAN CONCENTRATION CAMPS First Line: Dark gray Last Line: Liming the ravensbruck potatoes %careful and monsterless %this urn makes nothing %easy to say TIMEPIECE First Line: In other destinies of choice Last Line: You came like a wheaten song TIMES CHANGE AND WE CHANGE WITH THEM OR WE SEEM TO HAVE LOST First Line: There are so many girls now in the street Last Line: Is often the sign %of internal bleeding TIMING First Line: In our infancy of action we were women of peace Last Line: Of this morning's newspaper TO A GIRL WHO KNEW WHAT SIDE HER BREAD WAS BUTTERED ON First Line: He, through the eyes of the first marauder Last Line: And they trampled him into the earth TO A GIRL WHO KNEW WHAT SIDE HER BREAD WAS BUTTERED ON(1976) First Line: He, through the eyes of the first marauder Last Line: And they trampled him into the earth TO DESI AS JOE AS SMOKY THE LOVER OF 115TH STREET First Line: Who are you Last Line: On the very edge of manhattan TO MARIE, IN FLIGHT First Line: For women Last Line: A valley rhythm captures all TO MARTHA: A NEW YEAR First Line: As you search over this year Last Line: To somewhere else %where work begins TO MY DAUGHTER THE JUNKIE ON A TRAIN First Line: Children we have not borne Last Line: Curse their children who became junk TO THE GIRL WHO LIVES IN A TREE First Line: A letter in my mailbox says you've made it TO THE POET WHO HAPPENS TO BE BLACK AND THE BLACK POET WHO HAPPENS... First Line: I was born in the gut of blackness Last Line: Lying %in somebody else's blood TODAY IS NOT THE DAY First Line: I can't just sit here Last Line: But today %is not the day %today TOURING First Line: Coming in and out of cities TRIP ON THE STATEN ISLAND FERRY First Line: Dear jonno Last Line: If they ever find their way %back home TROLLOP MAIDEN First Line: But my life is not portable now Last Line: That's one piece I cannot leave behind %she whispered VIET-NAM ADDENDA Poem Text First Line: Genocide doesn't only mean bombs Subject(s): Genocide VIET-NAM ADDENDA First Line: Genocide doesn't only mean bombs Last Line: To turn their hands %against us Subject(s): Genocide VIGIL First Line: Seven holes in my heart where flames live Last Line: Prepare me for morning VISIT TO A CITY OUT OF TIME First Line: If st. Louis Last Line: Dream %they are immortal WALKING OUR BOUNDARIES First Line: This first bright day has broken Last Line: We will spade up another plot %for this spring's seeding WHAT IT MEANS TO BE BEAUTIFUL First Line: The child believes Last Line: Meling to sludge in my palm WHAT MY CHILD LEARNS OF THE SEA Last Line: I stand already condemned WHAT MY CHILD LEARNS OF THE SEA Last Line: And the words she will use for winter, %I stand already condemned WHAT MY CHILD LERNS OF THE SEA Last Line: I stand already condemned WHEN THE SAINTS COME MARCHING IN First Line: Plentiful sacrifice and believers in redemption Last Line: And very busy %and very old WHITE DEER First Line: The sun says she is there Last Line: His silent magnum at the white deer WHO SAID IT WAS SIMPLE Poem Text First Line: There are so many roots to the tree of anger Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Racism; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry WHO SAID IT WAS SIMPLE First Line: There are so many roots to the tree of anger Last Line: Which me will survive %all these liberations WINDS OF ORISHA First Line: This land will not always be foreign Last Line: When the winds of orisha blow %even the roots of grass %quicken WOMAN First Line: I dream of a place between your breasts Last Line: And your night comes down upon me %like a nurturing rain WOMAN SPEAKS First Line: Moon marked and touched by sun Last Line: I am %woman %and not white WOMAN THING First Line: The hunters are back from beating the winter's face Last Line: Meanwhile the womanthing my mother taught me %bakes off its covering of snow %like a rising blackeni Subject(s): African Americans - Women WOMAN/DIRGE FOR WASTED CHILDREN (1976) First Line: Awakening Last Line: That should be %you WOMAN/DIRGE FOR WASTED CHILDREN (1978) First Line: Awakening %rumors of the necessary for your death Last Line: Wiping up blood %that should be %you WOMEN OF DAN DANCE WITH SWORDS IN THEIR HANDS ... First Line: I did not fall from the sky Last Line: What is already dead Subject(s): Africa; Women WOMEN ON TRAINS Poem Text First Line: Leaving the known [or my sisters] for another city Subject(s): Women WOMEN ON TRAINS First Line: Leaving the known [or my sisters] for another city Last Line: Both you and I %are free to go Subject(s): Women WOOD HAS NO MOUTH First Line: When a mask breaks in benin Last Line: Disguised %as a baboon WORKERS ROSE ON MAY DAY OR POSTSCRIPT TO KARL MARX First Line: Down wall street Last Line: Against the striking students ZA KI TAN KE PARLAY LOT First Line: Oh za ki tan ke parlay lot Last Line: Za ki tan ke parlay lot |
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