A feminist, a socialist, a mother, a warrior, a civil rights activist; Audre Lorde a black lesbian poet in all her glory.

Lorde earned her BA from Hunter College and MLS from Columbia University. She was a librarian in the New York public schools throughout the 1960s. This gorgeous woman had two children with her husband, Edwin Rollins, who was a white, gay man, and who doesn’t love a lavender marriage; they divorced and Lorde met her long-time partner Frances Clayton, but not the Frances Clayton who disguised herself as a man to fight for the Union Army. Lorde’s Clayton was a psychology professor and an activist. They were together for 21 years.

“I used to speak in poetry. I would read poems, and I would memorize them. I literally communicated through poetry, And when I couldn’t find the poems to express the things I was feeling, that’s what started me writing poetry, and that was when I was twelve or thirteen,” Lorde commented in Black Women Writers according to the poetry foundation according.

This woman had a way of words and is the best of this world, but her name isn’t spoken enough, and I didn’t know of her till I did research on black women poets. Her work deserves recognition all her work is so beautifully done. Lorde published several books of poetry related to civil rights, antiwar, and women’s movements. She should be an inspiration for every young poet, especially a young black girl.

Lorde is a true motivator; when Lorde was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1977 during the same time of dealing with prognosis and subsequent mastectomy, she felt isolated because there were no publications or coping models that related to being black and lesbian. She reflected on her condition in the book, the cancer journals in 1980 which was awarded the American Library Association’s Gay Caucus Book of the year award in 1981.

“I cannot recall the words of my first poem

But I remember a promise

I made to my pen

Never to leave it

Lying

In sone body else’s blood.

I was born in the gut of Blackness

From between my mother’s particular thighs

Her waters broke upon blue-flowered kitchen linoleum

And turned to slush in the Harlem cold

Ten P.M on a full moon’s night

My head crested round as a clock

“You were so dark” my mother said

“I thought you were a boy.”

Lorde said in her poem named “To the poet that happens to be black and the black poet who happens to be a woman”

If you’ve never read anything by this audacious poet, now would be the time to start. Taking a deep dive into this woman would be eye opening for a lot of people who want to be close minded, and for people who don’t care much for poetry this woman knows how to work her pencil and wording, and checking her out would be worth anyone’s while.This is one of the top authors on my list to dive into for black history month especially because Lorde was born in the month of February.

 “I am Black, lesbian, mother, poet.’  Audre Lorde famously spoke these words to introduce herself every chance she had making her mission synonymous with her name. The Harlem native wrote well over 300 poems on identity, womanhood,” a little infinite article said.