We must constantly encourage ourselves and each other to attempt the heretical actions that our dreams imply and so many of our old ideas disparage.

Perhaps...I am the face of one of your fears. Because I am a woman, because I am Black, because I am a lesbian, because I am myself--a Black woman warrior poet doing my work--come to ask you, are you doing yours?

Poetry is not a luxury.

Who I am is what fulfills me and fulfills the vision I have of the world.

Black women are programmed to define ourselves within this male attention and to compete with each other for it rather than to recognize and move upon our common interests.

Attend me, hold me in your muscular flowering arms, protect me from throwing any part of myself away.

Change is the immediate responsibility of each of us, wherever and however we are standing, in whatever arena we choose.