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.

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

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.

All poets, all writers are political. They either maintain the status quo, or they say, 'Something's wrong, let's change it for the better.'

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

You can't have relationships with other people until you give birth to yourself.

I still hear you humming, Mama. The colour of your song calls me home. The colour of your words saying, Let her be. She got a right to be different. She gonna stumble on herself one of these days. Just let the child be. And I be, Mama.