WEBVTT

00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:07.777
Hello loved ones, and welcome to week 7

00:00:07.777 --> 00:00:12.799
of Resurrection Sundays for Audre Lorde.

00:00:12.799 --> 00:00:18.756
Today the poem that I'm gonna share to you 
is from The Marvelous Arithmetics of Distance,

00:00:18.756 --> 00:00:22.940
Audre Lorde's last published book of poems.

00:00:22.940 --> 00:00:27.958
And it really has helped me today,
has meant a lot to me today.

00:00:27.958 --> 00:00:38.110
I am sending today my closing chapter for 
Gloria Joseph's soon to be epic bio anthology

00:00:38.110 --> 00:00:43.563
celebrating the life of Audre Lorde 
and talking about how her legacy lives on.

00:00:43.563 --> 00:00:46.987
And it's something that has been 
such an honour to write,

00:00:46.987 --> 00:00:53.493
and I also have been, um, just really thinking 
about how to do it justice.

00:00:53.493 --> 00:00:56.834
So... reading this poem today, 26 times,

00:00:56.834 --> 00:01:00.630
and looking at the messages in 
every letter of the alphabet that it gives,

00:01:00.630 --> 00:01:05.298
have been huge for me, and I'm excited 
to share it with you right now.

00:01:06.884 --> 00:01:12.539
"<i>Legacy - Hers</i>"

00:01:12.539 --> 00:01:15.866
<i>When love leaps from my mouth</i>

00:01:15.866 --> 00:01:18.407
<i>cadenced in that Grenada wisdom</i>

00:01:18.407 --> 00:01:22.716
<i>upon which I first made holy war</i>

00:01:22.716 --> 00:01:26.081
then I must reassess


00:01:26.081 --> 00:01:28.490
<i>all my mother’s words</i>

00:01:28.490 --> 00:01:32.208
<i>or every path I cherish.</i>

00:01:32.208 --> 00:01:35.158
<i>Like everything else I learned from Linda</i>

00:01:35.158 --> 00:01:40.456
<i>this message hurtles across still uncalm air</i>

00:01:40.456 --> 00:01:44.726
<i>silent... tumultuous... freed water</i>

00:01:44.726 --> 00:01:48.601
<i>descending an imperfect drain.</i>

00:01:48.601 --> 00:01:51.514
<i>I learn how to die</i>

00:01:51.514 --> 00:01:54.017
<i>from your many examples</i>

00:01:54.017 --> 00:01:56.582
<i>cracking the code of your living</i>

00:01:56.582 --> 00:02:00.715
<i>heroisms... collusions... invisibilities</i>

00:02:00.715 --> 00:02:03.119
<i>constructing my own</i>

00:02:03.119 --> 00:02:05.515
<i>book of your last hours</i>

00:02:05.515 --> 00:02:07.255
<i>how we tried to connect</i>

00:02:07.255 --> 00:02:09.616
<i>in that bland spotless room</i>

00:02:09.616 --> 00:02:12.253
<i>one bright Black woman</i>

00:02:12.253 --> 00:02:18.604
<i>to another... 
bred for endurance... for battle</i>

00:02:18.604 --> 00:02:20.654
--<i>Island women make good wives</i>

00:02:20.654 --> 00:02:25.165
<i>whatever happens they’ve seen worse</i>--

00:02:25.165 --> 00:02:31.438
<i>Your last word to me was wonderful</i>

00:02:31.438 --> 00:02:34.640
<i>And I am still seeking the rest</i>

00:02:34.640 --> 00:02:37.731
<i>of that terrible acrostic</i>

00:02:40.254 --> 00:02:45.016
Mmmm. So, I love that poem.

00:02:45.016 --> 00:02:52.753
And in The Marvelous Arithmetics of Distance, Audre Lorde has this poem about her mother's legacy,

00:02:52.753 --> 00:02:58.147
she has a poem called "Legacy - Hers", 
and she has a poem called "Inheritance - His".

00:02:58.147 --> 00:03:04.576
She's really thinking about how can she learn 
from her relationship with her parents,

00:03:04.576 --> 00:03:12.983
and use it, even at the end of her life, 
to construct her ideas about legacy itself.

00:03:12.983 --> 00:03:18.955
And so, as we close this year,

00:03:18.955 --> 00:03:24.983
I know that this poem is really helping me
be present to what it means to close a year,

00:03:24.983 --> 00:03:27.820
to get ready to open a new year,

00:03:27.820 --> 00:03:32.183
without some important people in my life who I love,

00:03:32.183 --> 00:03:36.983
who I now, in 2013, was able to relate to in body,

00:03:36.983 --> 00:03:45.053
and in 2014 I'll be able to relate to 
as a legacy bearer, or through legacy.

00:03:45.053 --> 00:03:50.210
And I want to assign each of you to think about that.

00:03:50.210 --> 00:03:54.109
For you, how would you name 
the legacy you walk in?

00:03:54.109 --> 00:04:00.015
Who are the people 
whose legacy you carry with you?

00:04:00.015 --> 00:04:06.610
And I think that this poem 
is a great model of a love letter back,

00:04:06.610 --> 00:04:11.605
asking "<i>what did it mean, 
those last words that you said to me?</i>"

00:04:11.605 --> 00:04:14.915
Explaining that what you learn has to be questioned,

00:04:14.915 --> 00:04:18.210
the words that we have have to be questioned
over and over again.

00:04:18.210 --> 00:04:24.514
So my assignment to you is to write a letter to someone whose legacy is important to you.

00:04:24.514 --> 00:04:31.319
And of course, the legacy of Audre Lorde 
continues to be important to all of us.

00:04:31.319 --> 00:04:37.043
I look forward to being able to give you more detail 
about publication and timeline and everything,

00:04:37.043 --> 00:04:40.870
for this beautiful book that Dr. Gloria Joseph 
is putting together.

00:04:40.870 --> 00:04:45.822
And of course, come visit us on 
the School of Our Lorde website:

00:04:45.822 --> 00:04:48.673
summerofourlorde.wordpress.com

00:04:48.673 --> 00:04:51.872
and have a beautiful beautiful 
transition of your year.

00:04:51.872 --> 00:04:53.533
Sending you love.