Tuesdays with.... (#11)

This week's poet is one I became familiar with when I was in high school. Initially I was not drawn to her poetry, but some of her quotes gave me inspiration. Now that I am older and (more mature) I have developed a fondness for her poetic verses.

This week's poet is Audre Lorde. Audre Lorde was a Caribbean-American writer, poet and activist. She wrote her first poem when she was in eighth grade. Her first volume of poems, The First Cities, was published in 1968. Lorde died on November 17, 1992 of liver cancer, though she dealt with a 14-year struggle with breast cancer. She was 58. In her own words, Lorde was a "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet". In an African naming ceremony before her death, she took the name Gambda Adisa, which means "Warrior: She Who

Makes Her Meaning Known".

The Electric Slide Boogie

Audre Lorde

copyright 1993

New Year's Day 1:16 AM

and my body is weary beyond

time to withdraw and rest

ample room allowed me in everyone's head

but community calls

right over the threshold

drums beating through the walls

children playing their truck dramas

under the collapsible coatrack

in the narrow hallway outside my room

The TV lounge next door is wide open

it is midnight in Idaho

and the throb easy subtle spin

of the electric slide boogie

step-stepping

around the corner of the parlor

past the sweet clink

of dining room glasses

and the edged aroma of slightly overdone

dutch-apple pie

all laced together

with the rich dark laughter

of Gloria

and her higher-octave sisters

How hard it is to sleep

in the middle of life.