An Interview: Audre Lorde and Adrienne Rich Summary and Analysis

The interview in An Interview: Audre Lorde and Adrienne Rich was created from an edited tape of a conversation held on August 30, 1979. The interview was commissioned by Marilyn Hacker for the book Woman Poet: The East but was first published in a periodical called Signs. Adrienne Rich, a white lesbian feminist, acts as the interviewer. The interview is centered on Audre Lorde's life and the experiences that shaped her into who she is.

The interview begins with a question about Audre Lorde's poetry. Adrienne Rich asks why Lorde describes two of her poems, Poetry Is Not a Luxury and Uses of the Erotic, as "progressions." Lorde feels that these two works follow directly from the first piece of poetry she ever wrote. She talks about how she used poetry...