Why Do you Write?

"I normally reach for a poem called "The Unclaimed," by Nikky Finney, a young African-American woman who evokes the spirit of all the women in her past "whose names do not ripple in neon lights or whose distinctiveness has yet to be embedded on printed paper." These women, the poet tells us, were never allowed time to pamper themselves in front of mirrors or even time to cry.  They were women who sang over stovetops and washtubs; scribbled poems on bits of paper and dinner napkins-- women who acted out the drama of their lives unsung and forgotten.  And so she concludes:

for all that you were
for all that you always wanted to be
each time i sign my name
know that it is for a thousand like you
who could not hold a pen
but who instead held me
and rocked me gently
to the creative rhythms
i now live by"

From "For the Love of Books" an essay by Gloria Naylor in the book "The Writing Life"