The Ambivalence of Language

One of the central themes of “Power” is the ambivalence of language: it can be harnessed for the powerful purpose of creating solidarity between marginalized people, but at the same time it can be abused and perverted. This manifests clearly in the central opposition between “poetry” and “rhetoric,” which begins and ends the poem. Such a reading is supported by the fact that Lorde’s speaker explicitly undermines the reliability of language in presenting the courtroom scenes. The white police officer’s testimony, in which he claims “in his own defense” that “I didn’t notice the size nor nothing else / only the color,” is taken at face value and enables him to be cleared of his charges (25-27). Yet the speaker reveals this to be a blatant untruth, as in the video he audibly said “Die you little motherfucker” (23) to the corpse...