For women, then, poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence.

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

I have died too many deaths that were not mine.

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.

Every woman I have ever known has made a lasting impression on my soul.

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.

Battling racism and battling heterosexism and battling apartheid share the same urgency inside me as battling cancer.