"Hanging Fire" By Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde considered herself a "black feminist lesbian mother poet" who wrote poetry to simply communicate with others. She expresses pride, love, anger, fear and personal survival in her work and has received a National Endowment for the Arts grant.

This poem is focused primarily on the troubling emotions of a teenage girl. The speaker, whom could be either the author or just a character who is speaking, describes a roller coaster of emotions she is experiencing in her life. By reading this poem, we can conclude the speaker is unhappy with herself and is going through troubling times. She feels "not good enough" for the people in her life and for herself. The author adds descriptive images for the speaker to talk about and use as support for why she is so angry and sad and confused. After reading about the author, it fits well with the poem that the speaker is most likely the poet, but the poet could also be writing about an actual experience she has witnessed. The speaker of the poem uses depressing language and even the verb "die" more than once, portraying the idea of suicide. It is clear in this poem, the speaker, whether it is the poet or a character, is going through or went through a rough patch of their life. The repeated line "and momma's in the bedroom, with the door closed.", represents both the fear the speaker is feeling and also the trapped emotions she is dealing with.