Audre Lorde was an inspirational voice and a critic of the second-wave feminist movement. She debated that second-wave feminism focused mostly on heterosexual, white, middle-class women instead of shifting to intersectional feminism. Lorde was a black, female, and lesbian poet whose works focused on Civil Rights, feminism, and sexuality. Her words still ring true today. This poem is called, “A Woman Speaks.”
“A Woman Speaks”
Moon marked and touched by sun
my magic is unwritten
but when the sea turns back
it will leave my shape behind.
I seek no favor
untouched by blood
unrelenting as the curse of love
permanent as my errors
or my pride
I do not mix
love with pity
nor hate with scorn
and if you would know me
look into the entrails of Uranus
where the restless oceans pound.
I do not dwell
within my birth nor my divinities
who am ageless and half-grown
and still seeking
my sisters
witches in Dahomey
wear me inside their coiled cloths
as our mother did
mourning.
I have been woman
for a long time
beware my smile
I am treacherous with old magic
and the noon’s new fury
with all your wide futures
promised
I am
woman
and not white.
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