Poet, essayist, and novelist Alice Walker is a renowned American writer celebrated for her feminism and human rights activism. 

Her novel, The Color Purple, solidified her literary reputation. It won the Pulitzer Prize and was adapted by Steven Spielberg into a well-known film. 

Walker has authored several poetry collections, including Hard Times Require Furious Dancing: New Poems, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart, Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth, Her Blue Body Everything We Know: Earthling Poems, Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful, and Once. 

Walker introduced the term “Womanist” to express her philosophical view on gender issues. As a Womanist, she identifies as someone who values women’s culture and femininity. 

Walker is deeply committed to illustrating the experiences of Black women. She has a particular focus on examining their oppressions, struggles, loyalties, and successes. Some critics argue that Walker’s fiction presents an excessively negative portrayal of Black men. 

Her controversial novel, Possessing the Secret of Joy, explores the taboo subject of female genital mutilation in some African, Asian, and Middle Eastern cultures, highlighting Walker’s depth and versatility. 

In 2003, she published Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth, a collection of poems that engage with the attacks on New York and Washington, DC. 

Sharing one of her poems titled “Be Nobody's Darling.” Read on - 

Be nobody's darling; 
Be an outcast. 
Take the contradictions 
Of your life 
And wrap around 
You like a shawl, 
To parry stones 
To keep you warm. 

Watch the people succumb 
To madness 
With ample cheer; 
Let them look askance at you 
And you askance reply. 

Be an outcast; 
Be pleased to walk alone 
(Uncool) 
Or line the crowded 
River beds 
With other impetuous 
Fools. 

 
Make a merry gathering 
On the bank 
Where thousands perished 
For brave hurt words 
They said. 

 
But be nobody's darling; 
Be an outcast. 
Qualified to live 
Among your dead.