Audre Lorde

Inheritance-His

I. My face resembles your face Less and less each day. When I was young No one mistook whose child I was. Features build coloring Alone among my creamy fine-boned sisters Marked me Byron’s

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

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

Coal

I Is the total black, being spoken From the earth’s inside. There are many kinds of open How a diamond comes into a knot of flame How sound comes into a words, coloured By

An upright abutment in the mouth Of the Willis Avenue bridge A beige Honda leaps the divider Like a steel gazelle inescapable Sleek leather boots on the pavement Rat-a-tat-tat best intentions Going down for

Hanging Fire

I am fourteen And my skin has betrayed me The boy I cannot live without Still sucks his tumb In secret How come my knees are Always so ashy What if I die Before

Never To Dream Of Spiders

Time collapses between the lips of strangers My days collapse into a hollow tube Soon implodes against now Like an iron wall My eyes are blocked with rubble A smear of perspectives Blurring each

The Electric Slide Boogie

New Year’s Day 1:16 AM And my body is weary beyond Time to withdraw and rest Ample room allowed me in everyone’s head But community calls Right over the threshold Drums beating through the