The poetry you read has been written for you, each of you - black, white, Hispanic, man, woman, gay, straight.

You should be angry. You must not be bitter. Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. It doesn't do anything to the object of its displeasure. So use that anger. You write it. You paint it. You dance it. You march it. You vote it. You do everything about it. You talk it. Never stop talking it.

The charitable say in effect, 'I seem to have more than I need and you seem to have less than you need. I would like to share my excess with you.' Fine, if my excess is tangible, money or goods, and fine if not, for I learned that to be charitable with gestures and words can bring enormous joy and repair injured feelings.

I write because I am a Black woman, listening attentively to her people.

Courage - you develop courage by doing small things like just as if you wouldn't want to pick up a 100-pound weight without preparing yourself.

The devil lives in our mistakes, the lord lives in our rights. Who lives in our ignorance, and who wins after all?

I suggest that the great art belongs to all people, all the time--that indeed it is made for the people, by the people, to the people.