The Art of Response - Audre Lorde


The first answer was incorrect

the second was

sorry the third trimmed its toenails

on the Vatican steps

the fourth went mad

the fifth

nursed a grudge until it bore twins

that drank poisoned grape juice in Jonestown

the sixth wrote a book about it

the seventh

argued a case before the Supreme Court

against taxation on Girl Scout Cookies

the eighth held a news conference

while four Black babies

and one other picketed New York City

for a hospital bed to die in

the ninth and tenth swore

Revenge on the Opposition

and the eleventh dug their graves

next to Eternal Truth

the twelfth

processed funds from a Third World country

that provides doctors for Central Harlem

the thirteenth

refused

the fourteenth sold cocaine and shamrocks

near a toilet in the Big Apple circus

the fifteenth

changed the question.