ABSTRACT
Audre Lorde committed her life to speaking from the 'radically unspeakable position of the other'. As a black lesbian feminist, she challenged racism, sexism, homophobia and their institutionalized relationship with capitalism. In addition, she challenged those closer at hand; she was outspoken in confronting racism among white feminists and white gay men, along with sexism and homophobia among African-Americans. Lorde's stance as the other of the other is embodied in her poetry. To adopt a phrase from Deborah King, Lorde was a pioneer in articulating the 'multiple consciousness' of a multifaceted subject position. Lorde's widespread influence as a poet and spokes person for multiple consciousness arises from her ability to render into speech that which the world around her holds to be unspeakable. Her poetic voice, a whole formed out of apparently contradictory elements, creates possibility out of the apparently impossible, acknowledging inner multiplicity in order to work toward equality through the creative dynamics of difference.
