Undersong: Chosen Poems Old and New

Audre Lord's writing was complex enough to be both fierce and subtle, and this collection is the best overview of her impressive career. Adrienne Rich has said that Lord wrote with power and clarity, especially about "love and anger, family, politics, sexuality, and the body of the city." True enough: "Gemini" is a stunning intertwining of personal and political issues; "Love Poem," evokes the rhythms of sex, time and the heavens; and the haiku-influenced "Separation" shows the clarity and economy other writers have so admired in Lord's work. These poems still have a lot to teach us all.