Difference between revisions of "Sisters in Arms by Audre Lorde (1986)"
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Born on February 18, 1934 in New York City of the youngest of three sisters, raised in Manhattan and attended Catholic school. Her first poem appeared when she was in high school in Seventeen magazine. <ref>[https://poets.org/poet/audre-lorde Audre Lorde]. Poets. Retrieved January 16, 2021</ref> | Born on February 18, 1934 in New York City of the youngest of three sisters, raised in Manhattan and attended Catholic school. Her first poem appeared when she was in high school in Seventeen magazine. <ref>[https://poets.org/poet/audre-lorde Audre Lorde]. Poets. Retrieved January 16, 2021</ref> | ||
− | Lorde attended Hunter College to receive her B.A. degree in 1959 and master’s degree in library science, in 1961. | + | Lorde attended Hunter College to receive her B.A. degree in 1959 and master’s degree in library science, in 1961. '''''The First Cities''''' which was published in 1968, was Lorde's first volume of poetry. <ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Audre-Lorde Audre Lorde American poet and author]. Britannica. Retrieved January 16, 2021</ref> |
=Racism Issue= | =Racism Issue= |
Latest revision as of 04:08, 25 February 2021
Sister in Arms refers to warrior sisters who work together, embracing the intimacy that can be offered to each other, as well as healing and supporting each other on revolutionary journeys. [1]
This poem depicts the struggle of black women in apartheid South Africa. Lorder was a key figure for a campaign called Sisterhood of Support of Sisters in South Africa, this group supported the activism of black South African women against the racists. [2]
Contents
Poetry
The edge of our bed was a wide grid
where your fifteen-year-old daughter was hanging
gut-sprung on police wheels
a cablegram nailed to the wood
next to a map of the Western Reserve
I could not return with you to bury the body
reconstruct your nightly cardboards
against the seeping Transvaal cold
I could not plant the other limpet mine
against a wall at the railroad station
nor carry either of your souls back from the river
in a calabash upon my head
so I bought you a ticket to Durban
on my American Express
and we lay together
in the first light of a new season.
Now clearing roughage from my autumn garden
cow sorrel overgrown rocket gone to seed
I reach for the taste of today
the New York Times finally mentions your country
a half-page story
of the first white south african killed in the “unrest”
Not of Black children massacred at Sebokeng
six-year-olds imprisoned for threatening the state
not of Thabo Sibeko, first grader, in his own blood
on his grandmother’s parlor floor
Joyce, nine, trying to crawl to him
shitting through her navel
not of a three-week-old infant, nameless
lost under the burned beds of Tembisa
my hand comes down like a brown vise over the marigolds
reckless through despair
we were two Black women touching our flame
and we left our dead behind us
I hovered you rose the last ritual of healing
“It is spring,” you whispered
“I sold the ticket for guns and sulfa
I leave for home tomorrow”
and wherever I touch you
I lick cold from my fingers
taste rage
like salt from the lips of a woman
who has killed too often to forget
and carries each death in her eyes
your mouth a parting orchid
“Someday you will come to my country
and we will fight side by side?”
Keys jingle in the door ajar threatening
whatever is coming belongs here
I reach for your sweetness
but silence explodes like a pregnant belly
into my face
a vomit of nevers.
Mmanthatisi turns away from the cloth
her daughters-in-law are dyeing
the baby drools milk from her breast
she hands him half-asleep to his sister
dresses again for war
knowing the men will follow.
In the intricate Maseru twilights
quick sad vital
she maps the next day’s battle
dreams of Durban sometimes
visions the deep wry song of beach pebbles
running after the sea. [3]
Author
Audrey Geraldine Lorde, well known as Audre Lorde (/ˈɔːdri lɔːrd/) was an American writer, feminist, librarioan, womanist and civil rights activist. Describing herself as a “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet,” is best knwon for technical mastery and emotional expression. [4]
Born on February 18, 1934 in New York City of the youngest of three sisters, raised in Manhattan and attended Catholic school. Her first poem appeared when she was in high school in Seventeen magazine. [5]
Lorde attended Hunter College to receive her B.A. degree in 1959 and master’s degree in library science, in 1961. The First Cities which was published in 1968, was Lorde's first volume of poetry. [6]
Racism Issue
The poem talks about protests of extreme racism occurring in South America. The first stanza describes how the little power the author holds wants to help fight racism in South Africa. In another way, the author seems to be telling her friend that she wants to help in a violent protest, but she cannot. “plant the other limpet mine against a wall at the railroad station”
In the next Stanza, the author speaks about the silence of the media in America, calling out the New York Times with words “finally mention” South Africa. However the media speak about the white South Africans dying, instead of the massacre and imprisonment of the black children. [7]
The poem began where the tension is already established. “The edge of our bed was a wide grid where your fifteen-year-old daughter was hanging gut-sprung on police wheels” this gives depiction that the author was in a South African woman in a bed with a young girl who needs to be buried, however the author is unable to come along to bury this little woman.
Instead of telling about a six-years-old black child massacred at Sebokeng and being imprisoned for threatening the state, The New York Times only reported the problem in that country. TNY only mentioned the problem because a White South African has been killed in the conflicted area. “We were two Black women touching our flame and we left our dead behind us I hovered you rose the last ritual of healing" [8]
References
- ↑ SCHOOL OF OUR LORDE. Summer of Our Lorde. Retrieved January 16, 2021
- ↑ Audre Lorde: Poetry Essay Questions. Grade Saver. Retrieved January 16, 2021
- ↑ Poetry and the Civil Rights Movement. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved January 16, 2021
- ↑ Audre Lorde. Wikipedia. Retreived January 16, 2021
- ↑ Audre Lorde. Poets. Retrieved January 16, 2021
- ↑ Audre Lorde American poet and author. Britannica. Retrieved January 16, 2021
- ↑ Richter, Max. North American Time/ Sisters in Arms Question 1. April 13, 2015. This is American Lyrics 2015. Retrieved January 16, 2021
- ↑ Katz, Mika. North American Time/Sisters in Arms. This is American Lyrics 2015. April 13, 2015. Retrieved January 16, 2021