Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde

It has been a long time since we have played with words. This is an effort to revive our blog and renew our relationship to the scholarship of reading fascinating texts like Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde.

Binopoet and I decided to read Cancer Journals and share with you our insight and thoughts on this little but powerful text. Audre Lorde was one of the first women in the U.S. to share her experiences with Breast Cancer. At the time, not many women were ready to expose the realities of mastectomy, chemotherapy, and the fear of having to deal with a terminal illness. But this fearless feminist warrior did just that. We will post our commentary on the text in a few weeks but in the meantime check out this excerpt from Cancer Journals.

"I was going to die, if not sooner then later, whether or not I had ever spoken myself. My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you. But for every real word spoken, for every attempt I had ever made to speak those truths for which I am still seeking, I had made contact with other women while we examined the words to fit a world in which we all believed, bridging our differences. And it was the concern and caring of all those women which gave me strength and enable me to scrutinize the essentials of my living." pp. 19