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PROLOGUE

AUDRE LORDE

Haunted by poems beginning with I
Seek out those whom I love who are deaf
to whatever does not destroy
or curse the old ways that did not serve us
while history falters and our poets are dying
choked into silence by icy distinctions
their death rattles are blind curses
and I hear even my own voice becoming 
pale strident whispers
At night sleep locks me into an echoless coffin
sometimes at noon
I dream
there is nothing to fear;

now standing up in the light of my father sun 
without shadow
I speak without concern for the accusations 
that I am too much or too little woman
that I am too black or too white
or too much myself
and through my lips come the voices
of the ghosts of our ancestors
living and moving among us
Hear my heart's voice as it darkens
pulling the old rhythms out of earth
that will receive this piece of me 
and a piece of each one of you
when our part in history quickens again 
and is over:

Hear 
the old ways are going away
and coming back
pretending change

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Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-16 09:56:40