'I am Black because I come from the earth's inside
now take my word for jewel in the open light.'

Impassioned and profound, the poems in Coal showcase Audre Lorde in all her dazzling elegance and multiplicity. Mournful, celebratory, politically conscious, this early collection faithfully captures the complex interiority of the self. With insight and great feeling, these poems explore racial and sexual politics, liberation and love; they are strongly autobiographical (including poems about Lorde's children, her sister and her parents, as well as an elegy for a dear childhood friend). These timeless poems resonate down the years.