This is an exceptional piece, where every single line has a world of meaning. Each line could be a poem in itself, and every two lines could also stand alone as a separate poem. You can even read it backwards and find new meanings and newly formed two-line poems. It is part of the genius and integrity of bell hooks’ work that she brings together multiple perspectives, confronting the realities of difficult interpersonal relations, injustice, racism and sexism while at the same time affirming the urgent-and-always necessity of love. Her originality shines through in her poetry as well as her prose.
#45 from When Angels Speak of Love: Poems by bell hooks
i gave my heart
and in return
a heart is given
no lasting body
no definite trace
strangers kneel
in the same temple of love
i thought my heart
alone belonged
connect the unfamiliar
claim mystery
in deep history
heaven’s new frontier
my own and
not my own
– bell hooks –
Photo by Shanti Natania Grace: Heart Vine on Yale Street
