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WORKSHOPS » POETRY » AUDRE LORDE, "HANGING FIRE" » RE-READING
Audre Lorde, "Hanging Fire"
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Re-Reading Questions
Text on p. 872 of the full Ninth Edition
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I am fourteen
and my skin has betrayed me
the boy I cannot live without
still sucks his thumb
in secret
how come my knees are
always so ashy
what if I die
before morning
and momma's in the bedroom
with the door closed.
I have to learn how to dance
in time for the next party
my room is too small for me
suppose I die before graduation
they will sing sad melodies
but finally
tell the truth about me
There is nothing I want to do
and too much
that has to be done
and momma's in the bedroom
with the door closed.
Nobody even stops to think
about my side of it
I should have been on Math Team
my marks were better than his
why do I have to be
the one
wearing braces
I have nothing to wear tomorrow
will I live long enough
to grow up
and momma's in the bedroom
with the door closed.
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Re-Reading Questions
1. As you re-read the poem, look for how each stanza presents a somewhat different perspective on the speaker's overwhelming emotions. Note how she repeatedly speaks of the possibility of dying. The final two lines in each stanza are the same; what is the effect of that repetition? Is this repetition incremental, in which the meaning changes somewhat as different ideas and feelings are associated with it?
2. The only indication in the poem that the speaker is African American is the complaint about her "ashy" knees. What clues are given that the speaker is female? What is her complaint about the Math Team? Do you think that being black and female causes particular problems with her self-image? What does she need from her mother (besides braces)? Note that her mother's door is closed, but it is not locked.
3. Consider the title of this poem. "Hanging Fire" is an idiom which means delaying. However, like most such phrases, it has a literal base. It is an old gunnery term which indicates the time that passes between the firing of a gun and its explosion. More specifically, it refers to early weapons which required a lit match or cord to be held, then touched to the weapon to explode the gunpowder upon command, thus literally "hanging" or "holding fire." Consider what this idiom suggests about the speaker's situation. In particular, look at the lines, "There is nothing I want to do / and too much / that has to be done," simple but eloquent lines midway through the poem.
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