I read an Audre Lorde poem earlier today, part of the Academy of American Poet's daily poetry feed. It's determination, resistance, and outrage seemed to speak to the moment we are experiencing in what I hope are the waning days of Trumpism in the United States.
The poem, one of her most famous I believe, is "I Must Be a Menace to My Enemies." Here's the poem on the Academy of American Poets website.
Enemies does not seem, at first glance, in an emotion reflected in tranquility kind of way, like a suitable muse for poetry. But injustice anytime is an injustice to all, and a call to action must start with a naming and confronting of the enemy. With American democracy under attack, the late Audre Lorde's poem resonates today just as it did during her turbulent lifetime.
As a white person reading a Black poet's work, I'm forced to confront my own fear in this poem. And I'm also invited to feel for a moment that measure of anger that someone Black feels when their very presence is considered cause for fear and unease.
With white nationalists storming the US Capitol, incited by a deranged and dangerous president, becoming a menace to our enemies is essential work.
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