VR front matter layout 1/9/07 11:52 AM Page i VOICESRISING VR front matter layout 1/9/07 11:52 AM Page ii VR front matter layout 1/9/07 11:52 AM Page iii VOICES RISING CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF BLACK LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL & TRANSGENDER WRITING Edited by G.Winston James and Other Countries WASHINGTON, DC www.redbonepress.com VR front matter layout 1/9/07 11:52 AM Page iv Voices Rising: Celebrating 20 Years of Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Writing (Other Countries Volume III) Copyright © 2007 by G. Winston James and Other Countries Individual selections copyright © by their respective author(s) Published by: RedBone Press P.O. Box 15571 Washington, DC 20003 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of reviews. 11 10 09 08 07 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 First edition Cover photograph copyright © 1997 by G. Winston James Cover design by D’Mon McNeil Book design by Eunice Corbin Permissions acknowledgments begin on page 576 Printed in the United States of America ISBN-13: 978-0-9786251-3-9 ISBN-10: 0-9786251-3-7 ISSN: 0893-8296 www.redbonepress.com VR front matter layout 1/9/07 11:52 AM Page v “Our history is each other. That is our only guide.” —James Baldwin, Just Above My Head VR front matter layout 1/9/07 11:52 AM Page vi VR front matter layout 1/9/07 11:52 AM Page vii contents xi Preface xvii Introduction by Dorothy Randall Gray 1 kumasi by Eva Yaa Asantewaa 4 hips ’n’ ass by Eva Yaa Asantewaa 6 Sojourner: an abandoned manifest by Colin Robinson 12 Learning to Speak Heterosexual by Robert E. Penn 30 My Boy by Laura A. Harris 40 A House in the World by Shawn Stewart Ruff 57 Sons (excerpt) by Alphonso Morgan 81 Ridge 479 by J.E. Robinson 89 Bees by Curú Necos-Bloice 119 nothin’ ugly fly by Marvin K. White 122 Dreams by Ayodele Christopher Dana Rose 125 first anniversary of my brother’s death by Letta Neely 126 Cycles by Barbara Stephen 132 west coast east by Carlton Elliott Smith 135 Nothing Looks the Same in the Light by Reginald Shepherd 136 All of This and Nothing by Reginald Shepherd 137 Unfinished Work by Colin Robinson 144 the dancer by Gina Rhodes 145 Fourteen by Mistinguette 146 No, I Haven’t Heard. by Antonia Randolph 148 Après Midi a Isabel’s: Deux by Alexis De Veaux 149 Going Down Bluff Road by John Frazier 150 Living to Live Again by Tony Ray Brown 163 Come Mourning by Christopher Adams 175 No Beauty Is Native to Us by John R. Keene 194 Flint: The Story of Sean and Floyd by Cary Alan Johnson 213 Curtis by Ernest Hardy 218 Infidelity by Bruce Morrow VR front matter layout 1/9/07 11:52 AM Page viii 235 PATH by G. Winston James 240 A View from Flatbush by G. Winston James 241 Miss Agnes’ Middle Son Was Mine by Duncan E. Teague 243 I’m Slipping by Warren Adams II 245 In the Silent Bathroom #2 by Warren Adams II 246 Native American Hustler on Greyhound by Jerry Thompson 247 Suicidal Ideation by Michelle Sewell 248 Dead Man Song by malik m.l. williams 250 Gravity by Duriel E. Harris 251 Blood, Prayer & Tears: 2002 A.D. by Ernest Hardy 254 It Begins by malik m.l. williams 256 flashes—cyan/magenta/yellow by francine j. harris 259 A Moontale Spun by Gale Jackson 272 Bearing Fruit by Letta Neely 273 untitled by Carlton Elliott Smith 274 haiku for the million (black) women march, philly october 1997 by Cheryl Clarke 275 On Being a Jazz Musician by Jcherry Muhanji 286 Fortune by R. Erica Doyle 294 from Phallos by Samuel R. Delany 320 He Remembers by malik m.l. williams 322 The Angelic by Peter Conti 326 i get it by L. Phillip Richardson 328 Notes Toward a Poem About Love by Reginald Harris 330 He remembers, I remember by Alan E. Miller 331 Yours Were the Last Lips I Kissed by Carl Cook 334 Blue by Forrest Hamer 335 Once by John Frazier 336 Evanescence by John Frazier 337 ReDefined by Geoffrey Freeman 338 Devious Mirrors by Reginald Harris 339 Evidence by D. Rubin Green 341 Lantern by Cheryl Boyce-Taylor 342 So, this is where we are by Samiya Bashir 344 Jesus Gon’ Hear My Song, Sho’ Nuff by Samiya Bashir 345 bloomfist by Karma Mayet Johnson VR front matter layout 1/9/07 11:52 AM Page ix 346 Why lisa don’t mind washing the floor by Letta Neely 348 Drive by Duriel E. Harris 350 But There Are Miles by Duriel E. Harris 352 That August You Knew My Mother by Cheryl Boyce-Taylor 353 Psychic Imprints by B.Michael Hunter 356 raindrop by Renita Martin 357 Starvation Diet by Mistinguette 359 The summer I did not go crazy by Mistinguette 360 working my way back by Cheryl Clarke 361 Rites by Karma Mayet Johnson 362 pieces of the dream by Gina Rhodes 363 back roads by Gina Rhodes 366 In the Winston Lips of September, How We Met by Karma Mayet Johnson 367 pearls by francine j. harris 372 where the boys are by Marvin K. White 373 How Can You Live Without Hugs? by Duncan E. Teague 375 Shopping List by Ernest Hardy 376 demon eyes by Tim’m T. West 378 Marguerite and Camay by Bil Wright 380 A Name I Call Myself: A Conversation by D. Rubin Green 390 The Color of Free: Jamaica 1996 by Staceyann Chin 396 What We Inherit by Robert Vazquez-Pacheco 402 (Re-) Recalling Essex Hemphill: Words to Our Now by Thomas Glave 413 sassy b. gonn, or Searching for Black Lesbian Elders by Lisa C. Moore 432 Parking Lot Attendant/North Beach by Jerry Thompson 433 Gift by Forrest Hamer 434 Bel Canto (excerpt) by Daniel Alexander Jones 482 Waiting for Giovanni (excerpt) by Jewelle Gomez 490 Mighty Real: A Tribute to Sylvester (excerpt) by Djola Branner 511 Guess Who Came to Dinner (a monologue) by Craig Hickman 522 The Phone Rings by Samiya Bashir VR front matter layout 1/9/07 11:52 AM Page x 525 Question and Answer by Alan E. Miller 526 dyke/warrior-prayers (an excerpt) by sharon bridgforth 537 The D-train by Pamela Sneed 544 homocomin’ by Tim’m T. West 547 Cornbread Girl by Imani Henry 551 Peculiar Wars by Renita Martin 553 Osiris by Reginald Harris 555 Contributors’ Notes 576 Permissions 583 About the Editors VR front matter layout 1/9/07 11:52 AM Page xi VOICES RISING xi preface Voices Rising marks the twentieth anniversary of Other Countries, a powerful, far-reaching and deliberate legacy of community expression that began when Daniel Garrett invoked James Baldwin’s line “Our history is each other” to convene black gay men to a writing workshop on June 14, 1986—the same New York City summer that gave birth to Gay Men of African Descent and Adodi. One of Other Countries’ early commitments was to publishing, producing our first volume Other Countries: Black Gay Voices in 1988, which won a Coordinating Council on Literary Magazines award, and five years later Sojourner: Black Gay Voices in the Age of AIDS, which won the Lambda Literary Award for small presses. A collection of sixty-five black gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender voices, Voices Rising breaks brand new ground for Other Countries in two exciting ways. This unique anthology is the first co-gender project undertaken by the group, which began as and remains an organization of black gay men. Despite repeated discussion of the idea, and one effort at doing so, black women were never truly included in the Other Countries writing workshop, which over fifteen years functioned as an important “safe space” where black gay and gender-nonconforming men gathered for conversation and kinship, and many learned to write. Voices Rising took shape on the borders of that weekly workshop, from a vision that the anthology would include and serve as a bridge among members of the black gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities. The wealth of talent collected here, and the creation and sharing of art itself, are remarkable foundations upon which to build and strengthen community. In a departure from Other Countries’ two previous publications, which included visual art, the pages of Voices Rising exclusively celebrate the written word and the personal, political and cultural complexity that writing so well represents. We hope that individuals from all corners of our black GLBT community, and VR front matter layout 1/9/07 11:52 AM Page xii xii JAMES/OTHER COUNTRIES the world, will be enriched, challenged and expanded by the breadth and intelligence of the work they find here. Additionally, our partnership with RedBone Press in publishing this volume represents an important political and practical gesture we wish to underscore. Other Countries chose this strategy over selling the manuscript to a corporate press or continuing our past practice of independently publishing. Our relationship with RedBone Press reflects our recognition of Lisa C. Moore’s success in building a production and distribution infrastructure for work like ours, the importance of supporting and strengthening entities that not only produce such work but have the capacity and commitment to keep that work in print and in wide distribution, and the flexibility RedBone Press promised in honoring Other Countries’ history and autonomy.