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.

"<i>Legacy - Hers</i>"

<i>When love leaps from my mouth</i>

<i>cadenced in that Grenada wisdom</i>

<i>upon which I first made holy war</i>

then I must reassess

<i>all my mother’s words</i>

<i>or every path I cherish.</i>

<i>Like everything else I learned from Linda</i>

<i>this message hurtles across still uncalm air</i>

<i>silent... tumultuous... freed water</i>

<i>descending an imperfect drain.</i>

<i>I learn how to die</i>

<i>from your many examples</i>

<i>cracking the code of your living</i>

<i>heroisms... collusions... invisibilities</i>

<i>constructing my own</i>

<i>book of your last hours</i>

<i>how we tried to connect</i>

<i>in that bland spotless room</i>

<i>one bright Black woman</i>

<i>to another... 
bred for endurance... for battle</i>

--<i>Island women make good wives</i>

<i>whatever happens they’ve seen worse</i>--

<i>Your last word to me was wonderful</i>

<i>And I am still seeking the rest</i>

<i>of that terrible acrostic</i>

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 "<i>what did it mean, 
those last words that you said to me?</i>"

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.