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Ororo Taylor
For so many of us, poetry has been our way to be seen in a world not made for us. Poetry is an introspective look into the standards of life and why so many of us will never be good enough, according to society's standards. Poetry allows us to understand that we’re not alone in our oppression.
Poets like Audre Lorde, Maya Angelou, and Nikki Giovani stood at the forefront of change being able to understand the complex nature of oppression. Their poetry described the brooding nature of black womanhood in America and how they chose to overcome it.
Maya Angelou is a world-renowned poet who understands the complex nature of femininity as black woman. In her poem Harlem Hopscotch, Angelou describes the impacts of racism and poverty in the black community. The poem is a metaphor, and describes “a game of hopscotch” that black people have to play, the rules of hopscotch is also the rules that black people must follow, stanza two reads:
“In the air, now both feet down.
Since you black, don't stick around.
Food is gone, the rent is due,
Curse and cry and then jump two.”
Showing that she can’t sit in her oppression and all she can do is “curse and cry” before she has to continue to play the “game”, that is life as a black person. Angelou also put actions behind her words. She became friends with Malcolm X, who she remained close with until his assassination in 1965. Three years later, she helped Martin Luther King Jr. organize the Poor People's March when the civil rights leader decided to help the striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee.
Angelou’s work showed that black people were capable of having intellectual conversations as well as coherent thoughts, Angelou went on to write an autobiographical book titled The Heart of a Woman, which described her experiences traversing the United States as well as abroad along with detailing her involvement in the early civil rights movement.
While people of color and women dealt with racism and sexism on major scales, queer women dealt with the intersection problem of being an amalgamation of many oppressed peoples at once and many of them found Audre Lorde. Lorde was a poet who used her writing as a diary into the life of a lesbian woman of color. Never receiving the mainstream success of Angelou, Lorde instead became a New York City staple in queer bars in which she performed. In her work Sister Outsider which is told in speeches and essays Lorde says:
“Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to one’s own actions or lack of action. If it leads to change then it can be useful, since it is then no longer guilt but the beginning of knowledge. Yet all too often, guilt is just another name for impotence, for defensiveness destructive of communication; it becomes a device to protect ignorance and the continuation of things the way they are, the ultimate protection for changelessness.”
Lorde openly criticized heterosexual culture, a taboo thing to do for the time. Oftentimes heterosexual people’s response to homosexuality was guilt and shame, similar to the emotions of racists. Lorde let it be known that the guilt of heterosexual people would not receive applause nor praise, because without work there is no advancement. The guilt of heterosexual people isn’t unwarranted but is instead a reaction to its oppressive nature.
Lorde often challenged the “norms” of life. Audre Lorde let it be known that her identity as a woman or as a black person should never be called into question, as well as the intersectional identity she has as a lesbian woman and her change is still felt today.
Lorde coined the term “womanist” which centered around the black woman experience which was a clear contrast to the white surge of second-wave feminism of the time, Lorde’s existence was a critic of society’s norms for women as well as black women.
Lorde’s works are still important today from her books to her poetry. Lorde pushes you to question your unconscious biases, as well as telling us we also have them as oppressed people. Lorde let it be known that we can be oppressed people while also actively oppressing others.
Lorde contrasted the American ideas of femininity, feminism, blackness, and lesbianism similarity to Nikki Giovanni who is a Poet, Activist, and Educator who modernized the way we speak on issues of black love.
Giovanni’s works often spoke on the complexities of life as a black person. In her most famous work Nikki Rosa describes the harsh experiences of black people of the time, the poem reads:
“As the whole family attended meetings about Hollydale
And even though you remember
Your biographers never understand
Your father's pain as he sells his stock
And another dream goes”
Giovanni speaks from a place of knowing, the complex nature of a black home, where more than not, dreams had to take a backseat to reality. But, Nikki Rosa is not a sad story, it’s not a poem about the sadness of a poor black home but it is instead a story of happiness. It’s a story of youth, when you’re young and free and even though everything isn't perfect you somehow find a way to be happy, which is a common experience in the black community.
Throughout history, poets have used their works to mirror societies biases but it never felt like enough. Feminist poetry was often white, and, “Black” poetry was oftentimes written by men, but these poets chose to put themselves at the forefront of their works finally prioritizing their experiences which were oftentimes minimized or overshadowed.
Poetry has created a place for overshadowed people to find their spaces and feel less lonely. Poetry is so much more than words on paper, poetry is the creation of spaces where we can all be truly seen.
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