The Impact of Audre Lorde on The Messy Movement Praxis

My relationship with Audre Lorde and her work has been one that continues to develop in ways that inspire me, intrigue me, and keep me curious. I remember the first time I ever learned of the poem Uses of the Erotic. One of my earliest memories of being introduced to Lorde was through one of our cinematographers from a collaboration , zakkiyyah najeebah dumas-o'neal introduced me to the essays, and I was just lost in this idea that someone within academia was putting language, feeling, and understanding to a concept that I deeply felt called to.

Knowing that she had put this concept into words and moved through the red-taping processes to even be able to say these words, mean these words, and understand what they meant for Black women—Black queer women specifically—to embody that understanding, changed my world.

As I was writing A Return to Pleasure, I knew that I wanted to pay homage to and acknowledge the spiritual and ancestral legacy I feel myself coming from. I made sure Lorde is centered in my reason for why. You’ll see an excerpt of her essay on the cover. We published that book on 2-22-22, and shortly thereafter, my world turned upside down as I began learning even more points of connection and navigating my mom’s spiritual transition beginning.

Audre Lorde’s birthday is February 18th. I learned while searching for my mother’s biological family—the year that she passed,2023, —and a year after the book was published that My biological grandmother’s birthday is 2-22. I had published my first book on sexuality and trauma recovery on my biological grandmother’s 81st birthday, 2-22, without my knowledge. Audre Lorde’s birthday is just several days before that, and I thought, OK, that’s kind of crazy, but I’m going to sit with that.

Then I went to look at her death date, and it fell on a really auspicious date for our family. Her death date is my brother’s birthday—the same year that he passed away at the age of 13. And then I thought, OK, now this is becoming a lot.

As I continued reading Alexis’ Pauline Gumbs research, within Survival is A Promise, following her curiosity and love for Audre Lorde, I came across the introduction to this book and learned that Lorde passed on November 17th—then was memorialized on my father’s birthday the following year.

I feel that when you get these notes, you just have to keep trusting the guidance.

And as I’m reading the book, what I am understanding is specifically about the last ten years of her life—especially the idea of her eulogizing herself, witnessing the impact of her work, and experiencing her own peaceful transition long before it was just intimate family.

In seeing that, I understand that this is exactly what she desired. She wanted to be remembered in ways that were as intimate and personal to the reader as they were to those who knew her. She wanted her work to resonate deeply, allowing each of us to reflect on how those experiences may have impacted us.

And allowing that personal impact to influence the way we show up in the world with our work—letting that legacy, that energy, continue to live on.