Toi Derricotte

“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.”

“What is it about the voices of women that is so threatening to men?”

“I think poetry is a way of saying what can't be said in prose.”

“There is a moment in the history of every nation, when... old allegiances will not answer.”

“Joy is an act of resistance.”

“Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought.”

“I write because I am a coward. I am a coward because I am a woman. I am a coward because I am black.”

“To be a poet is a condition, not a profession.”

“The black artist is a fugitive. The black artist is a witness.”

“We think we are telling the story, but the story is telling us.”

“The only way to get through life is to have a sense of humor.”

“I want to write the poem that is the history of my family in America, which is the history of race.”