Judged even by her mother for the colour of her skin,
this gifted child found sanctuary, expressive strength within.
Her early love of poetry, once memorised, would reach
the dawning of her sense of self, the basis of her speech.
Her inner voice gained further sway for she was nearly blind
and raised within a household where her treatment was unkind.
But this would not delay her thirst nor form a block to last;
by writing verse, she'd soon connect with other souls outcast.
And, driven by her artistry, her need to learn and know,
a seed of sweet renewal would then germinate and grow.
She'd reaffirm her crazy, mixed with queer, identity,*
committing to the craft she loved with pride and energy.
With stirring words, her heart was set to motivate and dare
speak out against injustice, so pervasive ev'rywhere.
For silence must be broken if we are to move ahead
and celebrate our diff'rences, no longer live in dread.
Oppression is American as much as apple pie*
and trading truth for prejudice will serve to lift us high.
Embracing all our many traits,* resisting black and white,
we melt together socially and re-emerge with might.
Her marr'age to a gay, white man would snub the social norm,
exemplify in deeds, not words, ambition for reform.
And, though divorced, some eight years on, she'd openly protest
a right to shine her brightest light, live life her very best.
Her instinct, as crusader, was to fight the scourge of war*
by drawing on her inner soul, her strong poetic core.
An artist and an activist, she'd never shy away
from feminist and racist themes that battled day by day.
She wrote that the erotic was a female myth misnamed,
defined in pornographic terms that stifled truth and shamed.
Instead, it should be glorified, a power and desire
to break the bonds of slavery, use knowledge to aspire.
But, while her fruits of wisdom grew and fortified at pace,
her cancer, once contained, became another foe to face
and, rather than succumb to it, she viewed pain as a test,
a force to be transcended then, with courage to invest.
A woman of conviction, graced with stunning artistry,
who felt the weight of bigotry and urged us to be free.
For, giving voice to whispered dreams and feelings realised,
our hopes and fears are owned at last, no longer compromised.
From disadvantaged roots, she found the key to agency,
and paved a path in poetry to shape our destiny.
She leaves behind a legacy, a life all of its own -
this Warrior of magnitude who Makes Her Meaning Known!*
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