Hello loved ones, and welcome to week 7
of Resurrection Sundays for Audre Lorde.
Today the poem that I'm gonna share to you is from The Marvelous Arithmetics of Distance,
Audre Lorde's last published book of poems.
And it really has helped me today, has meant a lot to me today.
I am sending today my closing chapter for Gloria Joseph's soon to be epic bio anthology
celebrating the life of Audre Lorde and talking about how her legacy lives on.
And it's something that has been such an honour to write,
and I also have been, um, just really thinking about how to do it justice.
So... reading this poem today, 26 times,
and looking at the messages in every letter of the alphabet that it gives,
have been huge for me, and I'm excited to share it with you right now.
"Legacy - Hers"
When love leaps from my mouth
cadenced in that Grenada wisdom
upon which I first made holy war
then I must reassess
all my mother’s words
or every path I cherish.
Like everything else I learned from Linda
this message hurtles across still uncalm air
silent... tumultuous... freed water
descending an imperfect drain.
I learn how to die
from your many examples
cracking the code of your living
heroisms... collusions... invisibilities
constructing my own
book of your last hours
how we tried to connect
in that bland spotless room
one bright Black woman
to another... bred for endurance... for battle
--Island women make good wives
whatever happens they’ve seen worse--
Your last word to me was wonderful
And I am still seeking the rest
of that terrible acrostic
Mmmm. So, I love that poem.
And in The Marvelous Arithmetics of Distance, Audre Lorde has this poem about her mother's legacy,
she has a poem called "Legacy - Hers", and she has a poem called "Inheritance - His".
She's really thinking about how can she learn from her relationship with her parents,
and use it, even at the end of her life, to construct her ideas about legacy itself.
And so, as we close this year,
I know that this poem is really helping me be present to what it means to close a year,
to get ready to open a new year,
without some important people in my life who I love,
who I now, in 2013, was able to relate to in body,
and in 2014 I'll be able to relate to as a legacy bearer, or through legacy.
And I want to assign each of you to think about that.
For you, how would you name the legacy you walk in?
Who are the people whose legacy you carry with you?
And I think that this poem is a great model of a love letter back,
asking "what did it mean, those last words that you said to me?"
Explaining that what you learn has to be questioned,
the words that we have have to be questioned over and over again.
So my assignment to you is to write a letter to someone whose legacy is important to you.
And of course, the legacy of Audre Lorde continues to be important to all of us.
I look forward to being able to give you more detail about publication and timeline and everything,
for this beautiful book that Dr. Gloria Joseph is putting together.
And of course, come visit us on the School of Our Lorde website:
summerofourlorde.wordpress.com
and have a beautiful beautiful transition of your year.
Sending you love.