Poem For A Lady Whose Voice I Like

When critiqued about her work and “talent” (Line 1), the female speaker responds by telling the story of creation in her own voice. This aligns her with the power of creation as she alludes to one of the oldest creation myths in history. At the same time, “she said: god created heaven and earth / and all that’s Black within them” (Lines 4-5), which also identifies her as part of creation. It reminds the reader that creativity is free and, according to the Bible, all people are part of God’s creation and ergo worthy of respect.

She also alludes to the fact God made chitterlings. Traditionally, women would be the ones expected to make or prepare food. When God sees that the chitterlings are “good” (Lines 10-11), he may be praising the work of women as well as his own work.

In the third retort to the man’s accusations, the woman replies:

then he took a big Black greasy rib

   from adam and said we will call this woeman and her  

   name will be sapphire and she will divide into four parts   

   that simone may sing a song (Lines 15-18).

This retelling reminds the man of the way women were created in the Bible. Her calling the rib “greasy” (Line 15) is a subtle dig at men, comparing them to sub-par food.