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

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

Learning not to crumple before these uncertainties fuels my resolve to print myself upon the texture of each day fully rather than forever.

[Speaking] is never without fear; of visibility, of the harsh light of scrutiny and perhaps judgment, of pain, of death. But we have lived through all of those already, in silence, except death. And I remind myself all the time now, that if I were to have been born mute, and had maintained an oath of silence my whole life for safety, I would still have suffered, and I would still die.

The fear that we cannot grow beyond whatever distortions we may find within ourselves keeps us docile and loyal and obedient, externally defined, and leads us to accept many facets of our own oppression as women.

Raising Black children-female and male-in the mouth of a racist, sexist, suicidal dragon is perilous and chancy. If they cannot love and resist at the same time, they will probably not survive.

I am a Black Lesbian Feminist Warrior Poet Mother, stronger for all my identities, and I am indivisible.