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In Audre Lorde's poem "Sisters in Arms", Lorde explores the relationship between two Black women, one South African and one American, who are lovers. The poem alludes to a period of military conflict in South Africa in the 19th century to draw a parallel to the then-current conflict in apartheid South Africa. The speaker sheds light on the manner in which the loss of Black lives due to the conflict is ignored, and the rage she and her partner feel towards the world's injustices. On their final night together before the speaker's partner must leave for her country, they share in their fury, love, and loyalty to one another. Lorde's poem transcends being a story of two lovers, but one of two women who understand the other's struggle and their vow to defend the other.

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The edge of our bed was a wide grid

where your fifteen-year-old daughter was hanging

gut-sprung on police wheels

a cablegram nailed to the wood

next to a map of the Western Reserve

I could not return with you to bury the body

reconstruct your nightly cardboards

against the seeping Transvaal cold

I could not plant the other limpet mine

against a wall at the railroad station

nor carry either of your souls back from the river

in a calabash upon my head

so I bought you a ticket to Durban

in the first light of a new season.

Now clearing roughage from my autumn garden

cow sorrel overgrown rocket gone to seed

I reach for the taste of today

the New York Times finally mentions your country

of the first white south african killed in the "unrest"

Not of Black children massacred at Sebokeng

six-year-olds imprisoned for threatening the state

not of Thabo Sibeko, first grader, in his own blood

on his grandmother's parlor floor

Joyce, nine, trying to crawl to him

shitting through her navel

not of a three-week-old infant, nameless

lost under the burned beds of Tembisa

my hand comes down like a brown vise over the marigolds

we were two Black women touching our flame

and we left our dead behind us

I hovered you rose the last ritual of healing

"It is spring," you whispered

"I sold the ticket for guns and sulfa

I leave for home tomorrow"

I lick cold from my fingers

like salt from the lips of a woman

who has killed too often to forget

and carries each death in her eyes

your mouth a parting orchid

"Someday you will come to my country

and we will fight side by side?"

Keys jingle in the door ajar threatening

whatever is coming belongs here

I reach for your sweetness

but silence explodes like a pregnant belly

a vomit of nevers.

Mmanthatisi turns away from the cloth

her daughters-in-law are dyeing

the baby drools milk from her breast

she hands him half-asleep to his sister

knowing the men will follow.

In the intricate Maseru twilights

she maps the next day's battle

dreams of Durban sometimes

visions the deep wry song of beach pebbles

running after the sea.

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Sisters in Arms by Audre Lorde | Poetry Foundation

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The edge of our bed was a wide grid where your fifteen-year-old daughter was hanging gut-sprung on police wheels a cablegram nailed to the wood next to a map of the Western Reserve I could not return with you to bury the body reconstruct your nightly cardboards against the seeping Transvaal cold I could not plant the other limpet mine against a wall at the railroad station nor carry either of your souls back from the river in a calabash upon my head so I bought you a ticket to Durban in the first light of a new season.

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Toni Morrison's Sula tells the story of two young Black girls: Nel and Sula. While in childhood they are inseparable, they grow apart as they grow older and choose distinct paths; Nel choosing to follow social conventions, marry, and settle down, while Sula chooses to leave their small hometown of The Bottom and forge an unconventional path for herself. After a decade, Sula returns to The Bottom, much to the dismay of the community. Though Sula is hated by the people of The Bottom for her nonconformity, Nel remains loyal to her, even when Sula betrays her. Sula and Nel serve as parallels to one another, and Morrison's novel serves to examine the effect social conventions have on young Black women.

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Lucille Clifton's "sisters" is dedicated to Clifton's younger sister Elaine, and describes the bond between two sisters over the course of their lives, from childhood to when they have their own children. The speaker illustrates their inseparability throughout the changes and hardships they experience in life; it is through their inter-dependency and loyalty to each other that they protect themselves.

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Poems, readings, poetry news and the entire 110-year archive of POETRY magazine.

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How do the included authors describe their experience with sisterhood? In what ways do you believe racial and sexual discrimination contribute to their work? Why do you believe unity is so vital to marginalized communities?