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.

We must wake up knowing we have work to do and go to bed knowing we've done it.

Say what you have to say now! Don't wait until you're sending blips from the other side.

I write for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified, because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves. We've been taught that silence would save us, but it won't.

How a diamond comes into a knot of flame How a sound comes into a word, coloured By who pays what for speaking. Some words are open. Love is a word another kind of open — As a diamond comes into a knot of flame I am black because I come from the earth's inside. Take my word for jewel in your open light.

Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before.

Out of my flesh that hungers and my mouth that knows comes the shape I am seeking for reason.