"Idiom is larger than geography; it is the hot breath of a people singing, slashing, explorative. Imagery becomes the magic denominator, the language of a passage, saying the ancient unchanging particulars."

I am a black woman
the music of my song
some sweet arpeggio of tears
is written in a minor key
and I
can be heard humming in the night
Can be heard
humming
in the night

If we have the Word let us
say it
If we have the Word let us
be it
If we have the Word let us
DO.

"I try for a poetic language that says, "This is who we are, where we have been, where we are. This is where we must go. And this is what we must do.""

I'm
gonna spread out
over America
intrude
my proud blackness
all
over the place.