Book Review: "The Black Unicorn" by Audre Lorde

I have read other works by Audre Lorde before that led me to take a look at some of her poetry. "Zami" and "Sister Outsider" are two of the books I have read before by her and I am, as of yet, planning to read "The Cancer Journals" as well. But, as I have been reading "The Black Unicorn" and honestly, I have been surprised as to why I have waited so long before I chose to read this one. "The Black Unicorn" is possibly my favourite Audre Lorde book so far because the poetry is so vivid, exciting and so well written that I might just go right back to the beginning to take the entire thing in again.

The book covers relationships between women, primarily the mother-daughter relationship in non-white households. Writing about the way in which raising a daughter is different to raising a son and how women, especially sisters and female cousins, can be passively hateful and spiteful towards each other - Audre Lorde's book deals with empowering the self. Audre Lorde deals with empowering the self as a woman, as a person and as someone who has toiled, but said toil has made her more and more powerful as she has found her identity and held on to it.

Let us have a look at one of my favourite poems from the anthology. It is called "A Woman Speaks" and I'm only giving you the first verse because you have to go and read the rest yourself:

"Moon marked and touched by sun

my magic is unwritten

but when the sea turns back

it will leave my shape behind.

I seek no favour

untouched by blood

unrelenting as the curse of love

permanent as my errors

or my pride

I do not mix

love with pity

nor hate with scorn

and if you would know me

look into the entrails of Uranus

where the restless oceans pound."

I love this poem because of the way it talks about the way pride, pity and love can mix together and how this metaphor about the earth and the universe intertwines with the identity of the femininity of the narrator. It is a beautiful thing and I can honestly say that the entire poem is the same as this - just as permanent and just as reflective. The beauty of this poem comes through in the way it not only talks about identity, but the way in which the poet creates these indelible images of the natural world. It is something I am greatly familiar with when it comes to Audre Lorde.

The three verses of this poem definitely take time to breathe in and honestly, I had to go back and read this one a few times before I could finally see the reality of the poem and carry on my reading of the rest of the anthology. This is a poem that really hit me more than most of the others in the anthology.

Another poem I love in the anthology is called "Harriet" and honestly, the way identity, love and the human experience being different for women of colour is so beautifully written that it just makes you stop and think about your own experiences. And, as a woman of colour myself, I can identify with some of the things that are being discussed even though my background is Indian and thus is not the same as Audre Lorde's.

Just have a look at another poem of hers, again just the first verse because there is no such thing as spoilers in these book reviews:

“My mother had two faces and a frying pot

where she cooked up her daughters

into girls

before she fixed our dinner.

My mother had two faces

and a broken pot

where she hid out a perfect daughter

who was not me

I am the sun and moon and forever hungry

for her eyes.”

This is a poem called “From the House of Yemanja” and so, covers the mother-daughter relationship within the home. I a very close with my own mother and yet, there are things that are culturally present between me and my mother that would not be there between a white woman and her mother and vice versa. It is a cultural difference. Audre Lorde presents us with the cultural relationship between mother and daughter through the way in which there are things that she cannot do or say in front of her mother, presenting the oppression that is from one woman to another through tradition.

It is a beautiful book and honestly, I think you should all read it and understand more about the brilliance and cultural vibrance of her poetry that is rich with identity and meaning.