One theme of “Coal” is centering and describing the experience of living as a Black woman. According to The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, Lorde “worked to foreground black cultural experience and language” (The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton University Press, 2012, p. 1493). The title itself, coal, begins the poem by looking at a black rock. In addition to its color, coal is known for its transformative properties. There is a famous saying, usually attributed to Henry Kissinger, “A diamond is a chunk of coal that did well under pressure.” Lorde plays with this idea, which is poetic but not scientifically grounded. The speaker is aligned with coal. This is seen in the first line “I” (Line 1), which immediately follows the word coal.

Furthermore, the first-person speaker is defined explicitly and repeatedly as coming from inside the earth, like coal. Lorde repeats the phrase “from the earth’s inside” in Lines 3 and 25. Coal is found deep inside the earth. Before it is mined, it exists in darkness. There are no natural light sources deep underground—it is pitch black around the coal. The speaker identifies with this type of darkness. She asserts that she, as the “I” of the poem, is “the total black” (Line 2).