Stripping Bark-Alice Walker's Poetry in confronting the taboo - Page 4
© Dorothy Harris
No. I am finished with living for what my mother believes for what my brother and father defend for what my lover elevates for what my sister, blushing denies or rushes
to embrace.
I find my own small person a standing self against the world an equality of wills I finally understand.
Besides:
My struggle was always against an inner darkness: I carry within myself the only known keys to my death - to unlock life, or close it shut forever. A woman who loves wood grains, the color yellow. and the sun, I am happy to fight all outside murderers as I see I must.
Walker's work addresses very difficult issues for women. They are often issues that others, even women, do not dare address. She has opened avenues for women, over the years, to address unspoken issues by refusing to succumb to silencing that is generally imposed on women. In this way, Walker offers the venue to ask difficult and often unasked questions and ways to find answers, even (and especially) within oneself. In a society that discourages admitting that women, and particularly women of color, confront many issues Walker addresses, her work becomes extremely useful and empowering for her readers.
