Audre Lorde Poetry Is Not A Luxury Summary

Prolific writer, speaker, poet, and activist Audre Lorde dedicated her life and work to addressing and confronting the injustices of sexism, racism, and homophobia. Lorde battled the marginalization of such categories as “lesbian” and “Black women” by encouraging her audience to respond to prejudice in their own experience and lives. Her background in library sciences suits her profound interest in literature. Her expertise and knowledge spanned across multiple genres including feminist and black liberation pieces. Lorde asserts that communicating the experience of marginalized peoples is essential in making their oppression visible. In one of her later pieces, Poetry is Not a Luxury (1989) she states “poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought.” Lorde centers this work on the notion that poetry is the voice and cry of the humanity especially those oppressed (especially women).
Through this piece she engages her audience to consider the link to ancient society, challenging her readers to consider hegemony within this white patriarchal society. If poetry becomes a luxury then this form of expression is giving up the core of women’s power. Lorde sees poetry as “first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action.” Hopes and aspirations are formulated into language which then transforms to ideas and then finally sparks activism and action. Her artistic expression is shed through this piece, she makes this piece universally relatable especially to poets and those who use art as form to share their story. This essay pieced together in a poetic manner, works to pay homage to the ancestors of non-European descent, women, those who society tries to still their voice, and those who still remain