And I cried… for all of the women who stretched their bodies for civilizations, only to find ruins.

I write to tell the truth about the black condition as I see it. Therefore, I write to offer a black woman's view of the world.

What is the beauty of the haiku is that it is not simplistic. The beauty of the haiku I just said is very complex. It reaches all the complexities of our life on this Earth. Peace - that's a very complex idea, peace, so we can't get it as human beings.

So much of growing up is an unbearable waiting. A constant longing for another time. Another season.

The joy of poetry is that it will wait for you. Novels don't wait for you. Characters change. But poetry will wait. I think it's the greatest art.

Come windless invader I am a carnival of Stars, a poem of blood.

The most fundamental truth to be told in any art form, as far as Blacks are concerned, is that America is killing us.