ALICE WALKER -
AUTHORS@GOOGLE
In October, 2010, Alice Walker joined Googlers in Mountain View for a day of conversation and readings from her latest book of poetry, Hard Times Require Furious Dancing.
"[This] collection of new poems is written especially for the times we're living through. Alice Walker is known throughout the world as not only a great writer but an activist and a woman who shares the inner turmoil and outer struggles of her life. Readers admire her ability to bare her heart and soul, but to also speak out about the world as she sees it, often becoming a catalyst for change.
As the title [Hard Times Require Furious Dancing] suggests, these poems were written during struggles and sadness and deal with the loss of siblings, the loss of a beloved dog, the estrangement in families, violence and struggles on the world stage, and the simple joy of life itself. The words dance, they sing, they heal our hearts and touch our souls."
Excerpt from the Press Release from New World Library.
If you want to hear Alice Walker reading from Hard Times -- you can check out her YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/AliceWalkerVideo
via youtube.com
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A Woman is Not a Potted Plant
A Woman is Not a Potted Plant by Alice Walker
A woman is not a potted plant
her roots bound
to the confines
of her house
a woman is not
a potted plant
her leaves trimmed
to the contours
of her sex
a woman is not
a potted plant
her branches
espaliered
against the fences
of her race
her country
her mother
her man
her trained blossom
turning this way
and
that
to follow
the sun
of whoever feeds
and waters
her
a woman
is wilderness
unbounded
holding the future
between each breath
walking the earth
only because
she is free
and not creeper vine
or tree
Nor even honeysuckle
or bee.