If our history has taught us anything, it is that action for change directed against the external conditions of our oppressions is not enough.
When I hear the deepest truths I speak coming out of my mouth sounding like my mother’s, even remembering how I fought against her, I have to reassess both our relationship as well as the sources of my knowing.
In order to perpetuate itself, every oppression must corrupt or distort those various sources of power within the culture of the oppressed that can provide energy for change.
The fear that we cannot grow beyond whatever distortions we may find within ourselves keeps us docile and loyal and obedient, externally defined, and leads us to accept many facets of our own oppression as women.
When you are a member of an out-group, and you challenge others with whom you share this outsider position to examine some aspect of their lives that distorts differences between you, then there can be a great deal of pain.
Guilt and defensiveness are bricks in a wall against which we all flounder; they serve none of our futures.
We cannot settle for the pretenses of connection, or for the parodies of self-love.
Afraid is a country with no exit visas...
I am a Black Lesbian Feminist Warrior Poet Mother, stronger for all my identities, and I am indivisible.
What I most regretted were my silences. Of what had I ever been afraid?
In the recognition of loving lies the answer to despair.
All writers have periods when they stop writing, when they cannot write, and this is always painful and terrible because writing is like breathing...
There are no honest poems about dead women.
Nothing I accept about myself can be used against me to diminish me. I am who I am, doing what I came to do, acting upon you like a drug or a chisel to remind you of your me-ness, as I discover you in myself.
I am not just a lesbian. I am not just a poet. I am not just a mother. Honor the complexity of your vision and yourselves.
Divide and conquer must become define and empower.
Change is the immediate responsibility of each of us, wherever and however we are standing, in whatever arena we choose.
You’d better name yourself, because, if you don’t others will do it for you.
The strongest lesson I can teach my son is the same lesson I teach my daughter: how to be who he wishes to be for himself.
It is axiomatic that if we do not define ourselves for ourselves, we will be defined by others-for their use and to our detriment.