Self-care is not about self-indulgence , it is about self-preservati on.

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.

I am a reflection of my mother’s secret poetry as well as of her hidden angers

Wherever the bird with no feet flew, she found trees with no limbs.

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.

When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.

Of all the art forms, poetry is the most economical. It is the one which is the most secret, which requires the least physical labor, the least material, and the one which can be done between shifts, in the hospital pantry, on the subway, and on scraps of surplus paper. ... poetry has been the major voice of poor, working class, and Colored women. A room of one's own may be a necessity for writing prose, but so are reams of paper, a typewriter, and plenty of time.