Dark Angels Note 166

Dearest Friends

Welcome back to our Friday Note – our weekly collection of writerly thoughts.

Observing

Today, 31 years ago, American writer Audre Lorde died (18 February 1934 – 17 November 1992).

Lorde was a professor, poet, essayist and autobiographer who used her art to speak out against racial and social injustice and give voice to silent struggles.

In her life, she wrote eighteen books of essays and poems including The Cancer Journals, her own account of her struggle with breast cancer which is ‘regarded as a major work of illness narrative.’

Lorde also co-founded a publishing house, Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, that launched in 1981 and ran until shortly after her death in 1992.

Reading

“Lorde understood the power of poetry – the power of words mortised into meaning and tenoned into truth, truth about who we are and who we are capable of being”.

Writing

In her essay, Poetry Is Not a Luxury, Lorde makes a case for poetry being an essential tool in bringing to light the things that we feel before they become thought or action.

Spend five minutes feeling rather than thinking. Try putting it down into words.

Sharing

This week’s Sharing is from Maureen Evans, who wrote in response to the prompt from Note 162 and inspired by David Bowie’s 5 years.

We have 5 years, that’s all we’ve got

News guy wept and told us, earth was really dying

And still we stood there, consuming and using

The dying planet, the proof of the pudding

We have 5 years, even that long?

Limitless collecting and lack of regrets

Where shall I go next, what shall I see

Visiting the dying planet to satisfy just me

We have 5 years, still it’s all about us

War and human conflict, is it not enough

To see the planet nurture and grow

And support human beings 7 generations from now

We have 5 years

Keep sending us any poems, writings, links and writerly whatnots that you’d like to share with the wider Dark Angels family. We love to read them.

Diary

Weekly Tuesday Gatherings

There’s no Gathering next Tuesday as Neil is away with Dark Angels in the Sahara. Back to normal from the 28 November.

Join us again for a reflective hour of reading, writing and communing led by Neil Baker. Everyone is welcome – from the Dark Angels community and beyond. We meet at 7pm UK time. To join us, click here on the night. There’s no need to register in advance.

Come to The Lab – sold out

Join Neil Baker for an afternoon of improvisation, spontaneous creativity, and gentle mucking about at The Lab, in London on Friday, December 1 for just £30+VAT. All tickets have now sold out, but you can still join the waiting list here.

Be well, keep reading, keep writing and know that we’re always here.

From everyone at Dark Angels

Photo by Mykola “Kolya” Korzh on Unsplash