If You Don’t Define Yourself For Yourself

. . . It Is Through Poetry That We Give Name To Those Ideas Which Are-until The Poem-nameless And Formless, About To Be Birthed, But Already Felt.

The Learning Process Is Something You Can Incite, Literally Incite, Like A Riot.

The Absence Of Any Consideration Of Lesbian Consciousness Or The Consciousness Of Third World Women Leaves A Serious Gap Within This Conference. . . .

As A Black Lesbian Feminist Comfortable With The Many Different Ingredients Of My Identity, And A Woman Committed To Racial And Sexual Freedom From Oppression, I Find I Am Constantly Being Encouraged To Pluck Out Some One Aspect Of Myself And Present This As The Meaningful Whole, Eclipsing Or Denying The Other Parts Of Self. But This Is A Destructive And Fragmenting Way To Live.

But, On The Other Hand, I Get Bored With Racism Too And Recognize That There Are Still Many Things To Be Said About A Black Person And A White Person Loving Each Other In A Racist Society.