A review by thevillainschronicles
The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde by Audre Lorde

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

"I am a bleak heroism of words that refuse to be buried alive with the liars"

it took me exactly 305 days to explore every sentence Lorde puts into ink in detail.

I think it was important for me to pick this book up when I needed it the most, to live with it the way she lived with her words and poems throughout her entire life. This book truly is a treasure and I can't believe we are lucky enough to be this intimate with such a brilliant force of nature.

I am sure to go back to this over and over, hunch over her every word once more to get a deeper understanding every time.

“and when the sun rises we are afraid
it might not remain
when the sun sets we are afraid
it might not rise in the morning
when our stomachs are full we are afraid
of indigestion
when our stomachs are empty we are afraid
 we may never eat again
when we are loved we are afraid
love will vanish
when we are alone we are afraid
love will never return
and when we speak we are afraid
our words will not be heard
 nor welcome
but when we are silent,
we are still afraid.

It is better to speak, 
remembering 
we were never meant to survive"