“DeLois lived up the block on 142nd Street and never had her hair done, and all the neighbourhood women sucked their teeth as she walked by. Her crispy hair twinkled in the summer sun as her big proud stomach moved her on down the block while I watched, not caring whether or not she was a poem.”

“There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.”

“Life is very short and what we have to do must be done in the now.”

“Black women sharing close ties with each other, politically or emotionally, are not the enemies of Black men.”

“We have to consciously study how to be tender with each other until it becomes a habit because what was native has been stolen from us, the love of Black women for each other.”

“When we create out of our experiences, as feminists of color, women of color, we have to develop those structures that will present and circulate our culture.”

“Only by learning to live in harmony with your contradictions can you keep it all afloat.”

“Each time you love, love as deeply as if it were forever.”

“Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before.”

“When I use my strength in the service of my vision it makes no difference whether or not I am afraid.”

“When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”