Sisterfire Book

	Acknowledgments
	Introduction
	chant to the ancestors (for ida and zora)
	After Reading Mickey in the Night Kitchen for the Third Time Before Bed	3
	Becoming Fluent	4
	Mama	6
	Daughters	9
	Water Bears No Scars	10
	A Thin Neck to Snap	11
	Riding the Wheel of Fortune	32
	the woman's mourning song	39
	Gospel	40
	Busted	43
	crack annie	46
	night vision	51
	Child Molestation Is a National Affair	52
	Peace Be Still	54
	On the Turning Up of Unidentified Black Female Corpses	57
	Finished	59
	It Must Be Her Heartbreak Talking	62
	Vanity	64
	The Right to Life: What Can the White Man Say to the Black Woman?	93
	Disappearing Acts	99
	Just Becuz U Believe in Abortion Doesnt Mean U're Not Pro-Life	110
	An Elegy for Jade	113
	different ones #6 - Future Possibilities (An AIDS Soliloquy)	123
	touch	128
	Shadows over Shadows	140
	and do remember me	145
	Prelude to an Endnote	156
	An Anointing	163
	Hummers	165
	The Tree-Line	167
	Daughters	179
	Finishing	188
	More Than a Mouthful	189
	Just Desserts	190
	is it true what they say about colored pussy?	197
	Ambrosia	199
	We Always Were	200
	Piece of Time	201
	Dildo	206
	Clitoris	208
	There's a Window	209
	Solitude Ain't Loneliness	213
	The Dream and Lettie Byrd's Charm	214
	The Liberation of Masturbation	219
	Encounter and Farewell	221
	The Late Mrs. Hadlay	223
	revolution starts at 11:50 a.m.//april 2, 1993	237
	Mama Day	238
	Eclipse	242
	Song Through the Wall	244
	Dues	245
	duplication	249
	Wounded in the House of a Friend	251
	Middle-age UFO	261
	Oya Mae's General Store	262
	How to Fly into 50 (Without a Fear of Flying)	271
	Seven Women's Blessed Assurance	273
	climbing	275
	Visitations	276
	The Rag Man's New Clothes	290
	If You Lose Your Pen	309
	Sister Outsider	311
	rent	313
	Sapphire as Artist in the World	316
	My Muse Relentless	317
	Bianca	319
	Raised by Women	331
	the corner is not a place for hiding	333
	Prayer for the Nineties Woman and the Natural Woman Too	334
	Matchmaker, Matchmaker	335
	At Least Once a Week	354
	Uterus Root	356
	masks, trumpets, gris gris and us	358
	Legacy/Repeat After Me	360
	21st century black warrior wimmins chant for strengthening the nerves & getting yourself together	363
	Biographies	367
	Permissions	373
	Index	377