In search of our mothers gardens pdf

Literary Essay

Read the following story by Alice Walker
"In Search of Our Mother's Gardens"
Read the following quotation from literary critic Harold Bloom to help you understand the purpose of Walker's essay:
In her autobiographical essay, “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens,” Alice Walker looks at the tremendous burden black women have had to carry from a historical perspective and analyzes the overwhelming odds they have had to overcome to express their creativity. All too often women’s accomplishments have been viewed as inferior since, traditionally, they have been judged according to male standards. Walker, however, acknowledges the great contributions women have made to our culture and traces the power of women through her own matriarchal lineage.
Watch the following trailer of - a film based on Walker’s life:
Beauty in Truth
You'll find "The Trailer" on the right side of your screen (scroll down slightly).
Write a paragraph discussing how the combination of reading the literary essay and learning about Walker through the Beauty in Truth trailer helped you gain perspective on Walker as an author, a champion for women, a proponent of civil rights, and an artist.
http://www.alicewalkerfilm.com/

In Search oj Our Mothers' Gardens

I described her own nature and temperament. Told how they needed a larger life

for their expression. ... I pointed out that in lieu of proper channels, her emo­

tions had overflowed into paths that dissipated them. I talked, beautifully I thought, about an art that would be born, an art that would open the way for

women the likes of her. I asked her to hope, and build up an inner life against the

coming of that day. ... I sang, with a strange quiver in my voice, a promise

song.-]ean Toomer, "Avey," Cane

The poet speaking to a prostitute who falls asleep while he's talking-

When the poet Jean Toomer walked through the South in the early twenties, he discovered a curious thing: black women whose spirituality was so intense, so deep, so unconscious, that they were themselves unaware of the richness they held. They stumbled blindly through their lives: creatures so abused and mutilated in body, so dimmed and confused by pain, that they considered themselves unworthy even of hope. In the selfless abstractions their bodies became to the men who used them, they became more than "sexual objects," more even than mere women: they became "Saints." Instead of being perceived as whole persons, their bodies became shrines: what was thought to be their minds became temples suitable for worship. These crazy Saints stared out at the world, wildly, like lunatics-or qUietly, like suicides; and the "God" that was in their gaze was as mute as a great stone.

Who were these Saints? These crazy, loony, pitiful women? Some of them, without a doubt, were our mothers and grandmothers. In the still heat of the post-Reconstruction South, this is how they seemed

to Jean Toomer: exquisite butterflies trapped in an evil honey, toiling away

This essay first appeared in Alice Walker, In Search oj Our Mothers' Gardens (New York, 1972).

402 Alice Walker

their lives in an era, a century, that did not acknowledge them, except as "the mule of the world." They dreamed dreams that no one knew-not themselves, in any coherent fashion-and saw visions no one could stand. They wandered or sat about the countryside crooning lullabies to ghosts, and drawing the mother of Christ in charcoal on courthouse walls.

They forced their minds to desert their bodies and their striving spir- .. its sought to rise, like frail whirlwinds from the hard red clay. And when those frail whirlwinds fell, in scattered particles, upon the ground, no one mourned. Instead, men lit candles to celebrate the emptiness that remained, as people do who enter a beautiful but vacant space to resurrect a God.

Our mothers and grandmothers, some of them: moving to music not yet written. And they waited.

They waited for a day when the unknown thing that was in them would be made known; but guessed, somehow in their darkness, that on the day of their revelation they would be long dead. Therefore to Toomer they walked, and even ran, in slow motion. For they were going nowhere immediate, and the future was not yet within their grasp. And men took our mothers and grandmothers, "but got no pleasure from it." So complex was their passion and their calm.

To Toomer, they lay vacant and fallow as autumn fields, with harvest time never in Sight: and he saw them enter loveless marriages, without joy; and become prostitutes, without resistance; and become mothers of children, withou t fulfillment.

For these grandmothers and mothers of ours were not Saints, but Artists; driven to a numb and bleeding madness by the springs of creativity in them for which there was no release. They were Creators, who lived lives of spiritual waste, because they were so rich in spirituality-which is the basis of Art-that the strain of enduring their unused and unwanted talent drove them insane. Throwing away this spirituality was their pathetic attempt to lighten the soul to a weight their work-worn, sexually abused bodies could bear.

What did it mean for a black woman to be an artist in our grandmothers' time? In our great-grandmothers' day? It is a question with an answer cruel enough to stop the blood.

Did you have a genius of a great-great-grandmother who died under some ignorant and depraved white overseer's lash? Or was she required to bake biscuits for a lazy backwater tramp, when she cried out in her soul to paint watercolors of sunsets, or the rain falling on the green and peaceful pasture-

In Sear

. cis? Or was her body broken and forced t ten than not sold away from her)-eight hen her one joy was the thought of model-

one or clay? How was the creativity of the black worn:

entury after century, when for most of the merica, it was a punishable crime for a bI; e freedom to paint, to sculpt, to expand tt

Consider, if you can bear to imagine it, wI singing, too, had been forbidden by law. Lis Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Roberta Flae . (hers and imagine those voices muzzled ~mp;ehend the lives of our "crazy," "Sain

'The agony of the lives of women who m Essayists, and Short-Story Writers (over, with their real gifts stifled within them.

_~ And, if this were the end of the story, we'

paraphrase of Okot p'Bitek's great poem:

0, my clanswomen Let us all cry together!

Come, Let us mourn the death The death of a Queen The ash that was produ

By a great fire! 0, this homestead is ut

Close the gates With lacari thorns, For our mother The creator of the Stoo And all the young won Have perished in the \\

But this is not the end of the story, for a and grandmothers, ourselves-have not pI ask ourselves why, and search for and finl all efforts to erase it from our minds, just

American women are.

T In Search ofOur Mothers' Gardens 40 3 It did not acknowledge them, except as "the j lands? Or was her body broken and forced to bear children (who were more :led dreams that no one knew-not even ion-and saw visions no one could under­ out the countryside crooning lullabies to If Christ in charcoal on courthouse walls. esert their bodies and their striving spir­ lwinds from the hard red clay. And when Ittered particles, upon the ground, no one s to celebrate the emptiness that remained, 1but vacant space to resurrect a God. 'S, some of them: moving to music not yet

unknown thing that was in them would be how in their darkness, that on the day of Ig dead. Therefore to Toomer they walked, . they were going nowhere immediate, and ir grasp. And men took our mothers and re from it." So complex was their passion

fallow as autumn fields, with harvest time :nter loveless marriages, without joy; and :tance; and become mothers of children,

lthers of ours were not Saints, but Artists; .dness by the springs of creativity in them They were Creators, who lived lives of so rich in spirituality-which is the basis their unused and unwanted talent drove

spirituality was their pathetic attempt to York-worn, sexually abused bodies could

man to be an artist in our grandmothers' lay? It is a question with an answer cruel

great-grandmother who died under some seer's lash? Or was she required to bake " when she cried out in her soul to paint 'alling on the green and peaceful pasture-

t often than not sold away from her)-eight, ten, fifteen, twenty children­ when her one joy was the thought of modeling heroic figures of rebellion, in stone or clay?

How was the creativity of the black woman kept alive, year after year and century after century, when for most of the years black people have been in America, it was a punishable crime for a black person to read or write? And the freedom to paint, to sculpt, to expand the mind with action did not exist. Consider, if you can bear to imagine it, what might have been the result if singing, too, had been forbidden by law. Listen to the voices of Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Roberta Flack, and Aretha Franklin, among others, and imagine those voices muzzled for life. Then you may begin to comprehend the lives of our "crazy," "Sainted" mothers and grandmothers. The agony of the lives of women who might have been Poets, Novelists, Essayists, and Short-Story Writers (over a period of centuries), who died with their real gifts stifled within them.

And, if this were the end of the story, we would have cause to cry out in my paraphrase of Okot p'Bitek's great poem:

0, my clanswomen Let us all cry together! Come, Let us mourn the death of our mother, The death of a Queen The ash that was produced Bya great fire! 0, this homestead is utterly dead Close the gates With lacari thorns, For our mother The creator of the Stool is lost! And all the young women Have perished in the wilderness!

But this is not the end of the story, for all the young women-our mothers and grandmothers, ourselves-have not perished in the wilderness. And if we ask ourselves why, and search for and find the answer, we will know beyond all efforts to erase it from our minds, just exactly who, and of what, we black American women are.

404 Alice Walker

One example, perhaps the most pathetic, most misunderstood one, can provide a backdrop for our mothers' work: Phillis Wheatley, a slave in the 17oos.

Virginia Woolf, in her book A Room ofOnes Own, wrote that in order for a woman to write fiction she must have two things, certainly: a room of her own (With key and lock) and enough money to support herself.

What then are we to make of Phillis Wheatley, a slave, who owned not even herself? This sickly, frail black girl who required a servant of her own at times-her health was so precarious-and who, had she been white, would have been easily considered the intellectual superior of all the women and most of the men in the society of her day.

Virginia Woolf wrote further, speaking of course not of our Phillis, that "any woman born with a great gift in the sixteenth century [insert "eigh­ teenth century," insert "black woman," insert "born or made a slave"] would certainly have gone crazed, shot herself, or ended her days in .some ,lonely cottage outside the village, half witch, half wizard [insert "Saint"], leared and mocked at. For it needs little skill and psychology to be sure that a highly gifted girl who had tried to use her gift for poetry would have been so thwarted and hindered by contrary instincts [add "chains, guns, the lash, the ownership of one's body by someone else, submission to an alien religion"L that she must have lost her health and sanity to a certainty."

The key words, as they relate to Phillis, are "contrary instincts." For when we read the poetry of Phillis Wheatley-as when we read the novels of Nella Larsen or the oddly false-sounding autobiography of that freest of all black women writers, Zora Hurston-evidence of "contrary instincts" is every­ where. Her loyalties were completely divided, as was, without question, her mind.

But how could this be otherwise? Captured at seven, a slave of wealthy, doting whites who instilled in her the "savagery" of the Africa they "rescued" her from, one wonders if she was even able to remember her homeland as she had known it, or as it really was.

Yet, because she did try to use her gift for poetry in a world that made her a slave, she was "so thwarted and hindered by ... contrary instincts, that she ... lost her health...." In the last years of her brief life, burdened not only with the need to express her gift but also with a penniless, friendless "freedom" and several small children for whom she was forced to do stren­ uous work to feed, she lost her health, certainly. Suffering from malnutrition and neglect and who knows what mental agonies, Phillis Wheatley died.

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So torn by "contrary instincts" was blad her deSCription of "the Goddess"-as she p not have-is ironically, cruelly humorous. ridicule for more than a century. It is usu memory as that of a fool. She wrote:

The Goddess comes, she moves Olive and laurel binds her golde Wherever shines this native of t Unnumber'd charms and recenl

It is obvious that Phillis, the slave, c< morning; prior, perhaps, to bringing in

c'·····'M~·,· lunch. She took her imagery from the on

others. With the benefit of hindsight we ask, "1 But at last, Phillis, we understand. No

struggling, ambivalent lines are forced or not an idiot or a traitor; only a sickly lit home and country and made a slave; a wo song that was your gift, although in a lane your bewildered tongue. It is not so muc alive, in so many of our ancestors, the noti

Black women are called, in the folklore th society, "the mule of the world," because that everyone else-everyone else-refuse! "Matriarchs," "Superwomen," and "Mean "Castraters" and "Sapphire's Mama." Whe ing, our character has been distorted; wh( we have been handed empty inspiration farthest corner. When we have asked for In short, even our plainer gifts, our lab< knocked down our throats. To be an arti lowers our status in many respects, rath(

will be. Therefore we must fearlessly pull out 0

with our lives the living creativity some a allowed to know. I stress some of them

ost pathetic, most misunderstood one, can :hers' work: Phillis Wheatley, a slave in the

Room of One's Own, wrote that in order for a ;t have two things, certainly: a room of her eJugh money to support herself. f Phillis Wheatley, a slave, who owned not lck girl who required a servant of her own at ious-and who, had she been white, would intellectual superior of all the women and

[her day. speaking of course not of our Phillis, that gift in the sixteenth century [insert "eigh­ Iman," insert "born or made a slave"] would t herself, or ended her days in -some lonely fitch, half wizard [insert "Saint"], 'feared and :ill and psychology to be sure that a highly ;e her gift for poetry would have been so try instincts [add "chains, guns, the lash, the eone else, submission to an alien religion"], h and sanity to a certainty." to Phillis, are "contrary instincts." For when eatley-as when we read the novels of Nella lng autobiography of that freest of all black -evidence of "contrary instincts" is every­ etely divided, as was, without question, her

rise? Captured at seven, a slave of wealthy, :r the "savagery" of the Africa they "rescued" even able to remember her homeland as she

her gift for poetry in a world that made her a :i hindered by ... contrary instincts, that the last years of her brief life, burdened not er gift but also with a penniless, friendless dren for whom she was forced to do stren­ ealth, certainly. Suffering from malnutrition t mental agonies, Phillis Wheatley died.

In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens 405

So tom by "contrary instincts" was black, kidnapped, enslaved Phillis that her description of "the Goddess"-as she poetically called the Liberty she did not have-is ironically, cruelly humorous. And, in fact, has held Phillis up to ridicule for more than a century. It is usually read prior to hanging Phillis's memory as that of a fool. She wrote:

The Goddess comes, she moves divinely fair, Olive and laurel binds her golden hair. Wherever shines this native of the skies, Unnumber'd charms and recent graces rise. [My italics]

It is obvious that Phillis, the slave, combed the "Goddess's" hair every morning; prior, perhaps, to bringing in the milk, or fixing her mistress's lunch. She took her imagery from the one thing she saw elevated above all

others. With the benefit of hindsight we ask, "How could she?" But at last, Phillis, we understand. No more snickering when your stiff,

struggling, ambivalent lines are forced on us. We know now that you were not an idiot or a traitor; only a sickly little black girl, snatched from your home and country and made a slave; a woman who still struggled to sing the song that was your gift, although in a land of barbarians who praised you for your bewildered tongue. It is not so much what you sang, as that you kept alive, in so many of our ancestors, the notion of song.

Black women are called, in the folklore that so aptly identifies one's status in society, "the mule of the world," because we have been handed the burdens that everyone else-everyone else-refused to carry. We have also been called "Matriarchs," "Superwomen," and "Mean and Evil Bitches." Not to mention "Castraters" and "Sapphire's Mama." When we have pleaded for understand­ ing, our character has been distorted; when we have asked for Simple caring, we have been handed empty inspirational appellations, then stuck in the farthest comer. When we have asked for love, we have been given children. In short, even our plainer gifts, our labors of fidelity and love, have been knocked down our throats. To be an artist and a black woman, even today, lowers our status in many respects, rather than raises it and yet, artists we will be.

Therefore we must fearlessly pull out of ourselves and look at and identify with our lives the living creativity some of our great-grandmothers were not allowed to know. I stress some of them because it is well known that the

406 Alice Walker

majority of our great-grandmothers knew, even without "knowing" it, the reality of their spirituality, even if they didn't recognize it beyond what happened in the singing at church-and they never had any intention of giving it up.

How they did it-those millions of black women who were not Phillis Wheatley, or Lucy Terry or Frances Harper or Zora Hurston or Nella Larsen or Bessie Smith; or Elizabeth Catlett, or Katherine Dunham, either-brings me to the title of this essay, "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens," which is a personal account that is yet shared, in its theme and its meaning, by all ofus. I found, while thinking about the far-reaching world of the creative black woman, that often the truest answer to a question that really matters can be found very close.

In the late 1920S my mother ran away from home to marry my father. Mar­ riage, if not running away, was expected of seventeen-year-old girls. By the -­ time she was twenty, she had two children and was pregnant with a third. Five children later, I was born. And this is how I came to know my mother: she seemed a large, soft, loving-eyed woman who was rarely impatient in our home. Her quick, violent temper was on view only a few times a year, when she battled with the white landlord who had the misfortune to suggest to her that her children did not need to go to school.

She made all the clothes we wore, even my brothers' overalls. She made all the towels and sheets we used. She spent the summers canning vegetables and fruits. She spent the winter evenings making quilts enough to cover all our beds.

During the "working" day, she labored beside-not behind-my father in the fields. Her day began before sunup, and did not end until late at night. There was never a moment for her to sit down, undisturbed, to unravel her own private thoughts; never a time free from interruption-by work or the noisy inquiries of her many children. And yet, it is to my mother-and all our mothers who were not famous-that I went in search of the secret of what has fed that muzzled and often mutilated, but vibrant, creative spirit that the black woman has inherited, and that pops out in wild and unlikely places to this day.

But when, you will ask, did my overworked mother have time to know or care about feeding the creative spirit?

The answer is so Simple that many ofus have spent years discovering it. We have constantly looked high, when we should have looked high-and low.

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For example: in the Smithsonian Instit hangs a quilt unlike any other in the wo simple and identifiable figures, it portrays considered rare, beyond price. Though it f

,'makIng, and though it is made of bits a obviously the work of a person of powerf feeling. Below this quilt I saw a note that s. Black woman in Alabama, a hundred yean

If we could locate this "anonymous" 1 would tum out to be one of our grandmo in the only materials she could afford, anc in society allowed her to use.

As Virginia Woolf wrote further, in A Ro

Yet genius of a sort must have existed an isted among the working class. [Chang, and daughters of sharecroppers."] Now Robert Bums [change this to "a Zora blazes out and proves its presence. But, paper. When, however, one reads of a VI possessed by devils [or "Sainthood"], [our root workers], or even a very rem, then I think we are on the track of a los some mute and ingloriOUS Jane Austen. guess that Anon, who wrote so many pc often a woman. . . .

And so our mothers and grandmothers mously, handed on the creative spark, the never hoped to see: or like a sealed letter t

And so it is, certainly, with my own me which retained their creator's name even Smith's mouth, no song or poem will bear the stories that I write, that we all wril recently did I fully realize this: that throug stories of her life, I have absorbed not something of the manner in which she spe involves the knowledge that her stories-L probably for this reason that so much of w ters whose counterparts in real life are so ]

I

"~I~'.""".""". In Search ofOur Mothers' Gardens 4071 ,I

lers knew, even ,without "knowing" it, the if they didn't recognize it beyond what

rch-and they never had any intention of

s of black women who were not Phillis es Harper or lora Hurston or Nella Larsen lett, or Katherine Dunham, either-brings :arch of Our Mothers' Gardens," which is a :l, in its theme and its meaning, by all of us. ,e far-reaching world of the creative black ver to a question that really matters can be

lway from horne to marry my father. Mar­ (pected of seventeen-year-old girls. By the ) children and was pregnant with a third. Id this is how I carne to know my mother: ed woman who was rarely impatient in Our was on view only a few times a year, when :l who had the misfortune to suggest to her ~o to school.

'e, even my brothers' overalls. She made all J.e spent the summers canning vegetables venings making quilts enough to cover all

labored beside-not behind-my father in unup, and did not end until late at night. r to sit down, undisturbed, to unravel her le free from interruption-by work or the :n. And yet, it is to my mother-and all our hat I went in search of the secret of what tilated, but vibrant, creative spirit that the tat pops out in wild and unlikely places to

Jverworked mother have time to know or it?

ty ofus have spent years discovering it. We I we should have looked high-and low.

For example: in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., there hangs a quilt unlike any other in the world. In fanciful, inspired, and yet simple and identifiable figures, it portrays the story of the Crucifixion. It is considered rare, beyond price. Though it follows no known pattern of quilt­ making, and though it is made of bits and pieces of worthless rags, it is obviously the work of a person of powerful imagination and deep spiritual feeling. Below this quilt I saw a note that says it was made by "an anonymous Black woman in Alabama, a hundred years ago."

If we could locate this "anonymous" black woman from Alabama, she would turn out to be one of our grandmothers-an artist who left her mark in the only materials she could afford, and in the only medium her position in society allowed her to use.

As Virginia Woolf wrote further, in A Room ofOnes Own:

Yet genius of a sort must have existed among women as it must have ex­ isted among the working class. [Change this to "slaves" and "the wives and daughters of sharecroppers."] Now and again an Emily Bronte or a Robert Burns [change this to "a lora Hurston or a Richard Wright"] blazes out and proves its presence. But certainly it never got itself on to paper. When, however, one reads of a witch being ducked, of a woman possessed by devils [or "Sainthood"], of a wise woman selling herbs [our root workers], or even a very remarkable man who had a mother, then I think we are on the track of a lost novelist, a suppressed poet, of some mute and inglorious Jane Austen... : Indeed, I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman. . . .

And so our mothers and grandmothers have, more often than not anony­ mously, handed on the creative spark, the seed of the flower they themselves never hoped to see: or like a sealed letter they could not plainly read.

And so it is, certainly, with my own mother. Unlike "Ma" Rainey's songs, which retained their creator's name even while blasting forth from Bessie Smith's mouth, no song or poem will bear my mother's name. Yet so many of the stories that I write, that we all write, are my mother's stories. Only recently did I fully realize this: that through years oflistening to my mother's stories of her life, I have absorbed not only the stories themselves, but something of the manner in which she spoke, something of the urgency that involves the knowledge that her stories-like her life-must be recorded. It is probably for this reason that so much of what I have written is about charac­ ters whose counterparts in real life are so much older than I am.

408 Alice Walker

But the telling of these stories, which came from my mother's lips as naturally as breathing, was not the only way my mother showed herself as an artist. For stories, too, were subject to being distracted, to dying without conclusion. Dinners must be started, and cotton must be gathered before the big rains. The artist that was and is my mother showed itself to me only after many years. This is what I finally noticed:

Like Mem, a character in The Third Life of Grange Copeland, my mother adorned with flowers whatever shabby house we were forced to live in. And not just your typical straggly country stand of zinnias, either. She planted ambitious gardens-and still does-with over fifty different varieties of plants that bloom profusely from early March until late November. Before she left home for the fields, she watered her flowers, chopped up the grass, and laid out new beds. When she returned from the fields she might divide clumps of bulbs, dig a cold pit, uproot and replant roses, or prune branches from her taller bushes or trees-until night came and it was too dark to see.

Whatever she planted grew as if by magic, and her fame as a grower of . flowers spread over three counties. Because of her creativity with her flow­ ers, even my memories of poverty are seen through a screen of blooms-sun­ flowers, petunias, roses, dahlias, forsythia, spirea, delphiniums, verbena ... and on and on.

And I remember people coming to my mother's yard to be given cuttings from her flowers; I hear again the praise showered on her because whatever rocky soil she landed on, she turned into a garden. A garden so brilliant with colors, so original in its design, so magnificent with life and creativ­ ity, that to this day people drive by our house in Georgia-perfect strang­ ers and imperfect strangers-and ask to stand or walk among my mother's art.

I notice that it is only when my mother is working in her flowers that she is radiant, almost to the point of being invisible-except as Creator: hand and eye. She is involved in work her soul must have. Ordering the universe in the image of her personal conception of Beauty.

Her face, as she prepares the Art that is her gift, is a legacy of respect she leaves to me, for all that illuminates and cherishes life. She has handed down respect for the pOSSibilities-and the will to grasp them.

For her, so hindered and intruded upon in so many ways, being an artist has still been a daily part of her life. This ability to hold on, even in very simple ways, is work black women have done for a very long time.

This poem is not enough, but it is something, for the woman who literally covered the holes in our walls with sunflowers:

In Se"

They were wome My mama's genel Husky of voice­ Step With fists as well Hands How they battere Doors And ironed Starched white Shirts How they led Armies Headragged Gen Across mined Fields Bobby-trapped Kitchens To discover bo01 Desks A place for us How they knew' Must know Without knowin Of it Themselves.

Guided by my heritage of a love of bea' search of my mother's garden, I found my ,

And perhaps in Africa over two hundre mother; perhaps she painted vivid and d yellows and greens on the walls of her hut Roberta Flack's-sweetly over the compo WOve the most stunning mats or told the village storytellers. Perhaps she was herse ter's name is signed to the poems that we 1

Perhaps Phillis Wheatley's mother was < Perhaps in more than Phillis Wheatle

signature made clear.

ies, which came from my mother's lips as he only way my mother showed herself as a bject to being distracted, to dying withou~ rted, and cotton must be gathered before th l is my mother showed itself to me onlyafte; '1 noticed:

: Third Life of Grange Copeland, my mother ;habby house we were forced to live in. And mntry stand of zinnias, either. She planted s-with over fifty different varieties of plants March until late November. Before she left her flowers, chopped up the grass, and laid d from the fields she might divide clumps of l replant roses, or prune branches from her t came and it was too dark to see.

s if by magic, and her fame as a grower of es. Because of her creativity with her flow­ '1 are seen through a screen of blooms-sun_ forsythia, spirea, delphiniums, verbena ...

Ig to my mother's yard to be given cuttings ~ praise showered on her because whatever Imed into a garden. A garden so brilliant sign, so magnificent with life and creativ­ by our house in Georgia-perfect strang-

I ask to stand or walk among my mothers "'·:.·',c·I~

mother is working in her flowers that she is ing invisible-except as Creator: hand and Jul must have. Ordering the universe in the of Beauty.

rt that is her gift, is a legacy of respect she es and cherishes life. She has handed down the will to grasp them. jed upon in so many ways, being an artist life. This ability to hold on, even in very fl have done for a very long time. is something, for the woman who literally

h sunflowers:

In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens 409

They were women then My mama's generation Husky of voice-Stout of Step With fists as well as Hands How they battered down Doors And ironed Starched white Shirts How they led Armies Headragged Generals Across mined Fields Bobby-trapped Kitchens To discover books Desks A place for us How they knew what we Must know Without knowing a page Of it Themselves.

Guided by my heritage of a love of beauty and a respect for strength-in search of my mother's garden, I found my own.

And perhaps in Africa over two hundred years ago, there was just such a mother; perhaps she painted vivid and daring decorations in oranges and yellows and greens on the walls of her hut; perhaps she sang-in a voice like Roberta Flack's-sweetly over the compounds of her village; perhaps she wove the most stunning mats or told the most ingenious stories of all the village storytellers. Perhaps she was herself a poet-though only her daugh­ ter's name is Signed to the poems that we know.

Perhaps Phillis Wheatley's mother was also an artist. Perhaps in more than Phillis Wheatley's biological life is her mother's

signature made clear.