The common denominator across these relationships is the mythical intensity of connections between women. At other times, the women in her life are what nearly destroy her, or at least cause her to face intense pain. Facing existential loneliness, and the devastating impacts of white supremacy, Audre sometimes owes her survival to the women in her life who keep her afloat. Learning about and loving other women provided a space for Audre to learn about and love herself her flaws and her strengths are revealed along the way.

The fact that Zami can only be realized through Lorde’s odyssey of various friendships, lovers, and matriarchs demonstrates how powerful Lorde believes women’s relationships to each other can be.

Zami represents Lorde’s metaphysical self-actualization, which, one learns from the structure of the story, is only possible because of the women in Lorde’s life who taught her about herself. Indeed, the story is structurally framed around the various women that come in and out of Audre’s life-that is, until she becomes Zami. Lorde examines this theme throughout the book by outlining the relationships in her own life that shaped her. Lorde’s biomythography Zami: A New Spelling of My Name primarily explores the formative and deeply spiritual power of relationships between women.

Zami biomythography