Last week we lost Adrienne Rich, the lesbian poet, essayist, feminist who was unashamed of the inseparable ties between her personal life and her political perspective. Adrienne Rich once refused to accept a National Book Award unless two of my other heroes, Audre Lorde and Alice Walker, joined her onstage to accept on behalf of all women (read their acceptance speech here). She once declined the White House's offer of the National Medal of the Arts, writing in a letter, "[Art] means nothing if it simply decorates the dinner table of the power which holds it hostage."
Since I found out she died, I've been trying to write a poem in homage to her. But looking back with those words in mind, it feels as if all of my work is in homage to her. I really believe I wouldn't be doing what I do without the influence of women like Rich, Walker and Lorde. When I write, I always feel like I'm taking a risk. And without the courage of these women leading the way, I probably wouldn't take the chance.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the honesty of anger, the kind of anger I felt when I wrote a poem for Trayvon Martin, the teenage boy who was killed because someone deemed his dark skin "suspicious." I shared that poem at New Poetry Mission, and I'd like to share it with you now. Here's a video of my reading, brought to you by Litseen. I'd like to thank Adrienne Rich for opening the doors wide enough for my anger to pass through.
I'll be reading this and other poems tonight at MAPP, Mission Arts and Performance Project. There will also be live music, theater, film screenings and more, with art and healing and transformation taking place all over San Francisco's Mission District. Check out the whole program here, and the program for the event I'm a part of, Reflexiones, here.
This is for Trayvon.
Since I found out she died, I've been trying to write a poem in homage to her. But looking back with those words in mind, it feels as if all of my work is in homage to her. I really believe I wouldn't be doing what I do without the influence of women like Rich, Walker and Lorde. When I write, I always feel like I'm taking a risk. And without the courage of these women leading the way, I probably wouldn't take the chance.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the honesty of anger, the kind of anger I felt when I wrote a poem for Trayvon Martin, the teenage boy who was killed because someone deemed his dark skin "suspicious." I shared that poem at New Poetry Mission, and I'd like to share it with you now. Here's a video of my reading, brought to you by Litseen. I'd like to thank Adrienne Rich for opening the doors wide enough for my anger to pass through.
I'll be reading this and other poems tonight at MAPP, Mission Arts and Performance Project. There will also be live music, theater, film screenings and more, with art and healing and transformation taking place all over San Francisco's Mission District. Check out the whole program here, and the program for the event I'm a part of, Reflexiones, here.
This is for Trayvon.
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