phati'tude Literary Magazine Vol. 2 No. 4 by The IAAS

44 V O L. 2 || N O. 4 || W I N T E R 2 0 1 1 a publication of The Intercultural Alliance of Artists & Scholars, Inc.(IAAS) a New York nonprofit organization

Gabrielle David Editor-in-Chief

Jennifer N. Bacon CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY THROUGH LITERATURE

Gabrielle David INTERVIEWS POETS TALK POETRY and respond to 8 questions about literature from an African American perspective.

Jennifer Bacon Associate Editor Lora René Tucker Assistant Editor Louis Reyes Rivera Jon Sands Editors

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Lorraine Miller Nuzzo Art Director

ISHMAEL REED, HARRYETTE MULLEN & SHARON WYETH DENNIS Discuss their careers and their love for writing.

Michelle Aragón Director, Marketing Communications

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Gabrielle David, Chair Angela Sternreich, Secretary Lynn Korsman, Treasurer Shirley Bradley LeFlore Stephanie Agosto Michelle Aragón Naydene Brickus Nikita Hunter Advisory Board Kenneth Campbell Robert Coburn Andrew P. Jackson (Sekou Molefi Baako) Special Advisor for the IAAS Board

T ESSAYS

Leah Creque-Harris THE LOVE OF MY LIFE IS MY RELIGION: THE SPIRITUAL COMMITMENT OF ZORA NEALE HURSTON IN THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD

Also featuring essays by REMICA L. BINGHAM, ANDREW P. JACKSON, THABITI LEWIS

Raymond R. Villegas CELEBRATING THE NARRATIVE WITHIN

Raymond Villegas introduces phati’tude readers to his students, Shavetta Morgan, Azizah Salaam & Melba Sparks.

phati’tude Literary Magazine is published quarterly (Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall), ISSN: 1091-1480; ISBN: 1460926269; ISBN-13: 978-1460926260. Copyright © 2010 by The Intercultural Alliance of Artists & Scholars, Inc. (IAAS). All rights reserved. Printed and bound in the U.S.A. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical without permission in writing from the Publisher. The views expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors of phati’tude Literary Magazine, the Board of Directors of the IAAS, donors or sponsors. Single issue: US$18; Annual subscriptions: US$65; Int’l-Canadian: US$75; Institutional US$110. We offer special discounts for classes and groups. The Publisher cannot guarantee delivery unless notification of change of address is received. Visit our website at www.phatitude.org. Manuscripts with SASE, letters to the editor and all other correspondence to phati’tude Literary Magazine, P.O. Box 4378, Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163-4378; or email editor@phatitude.org. COVER ART: "Rising Above" by Danny Simmons. Oil, pastel, charcoal on paper, 22 x 30 in. Photograph by Mark Blackshear. Copyright © 2006.(see p. 246).

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EDITOR’S NOTE THIS & THAT DAVID B. GREEN Toward A Black Gay Effeminate Criticism KENT COOPER Freedom MELISSA ANN CHADBURN Home: My First Fiction RYAN JAMES KERNAN How It Feels To Be Mulatto Me BOOK REVIEWS CONTRIBUTORS COVER ART Danny Simmons

FEATURES

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JENNIFER N. BACON CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY THROUGH LITERATURE: From the Harlem Renaissance to Today RAYMOND R. VILLEGAS Celebrating the Narrative Within POETS TALK POETRY Poets devorah major, Lenard D. Moore, Stephani Maari Booker, Geoffrey Jacques, Mary Catherine Loving and Tony Medina respond to eight questions about literature from an African American perspective.

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FEATURE ARTIST Kennis Baptiste

SHORT STORIES 227 188 V I S I T

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JASMINE IONA BROWN Subwayman YVONNE HARRIOTT Soft Willie’s Curse

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213 85 85 180 85

ALMASI HINES Brown SHAVETTA L. MORGAN The Dawn of Fall AZIZAH SALAAM My Day Off STEPHANIE SMALL Troubles and Trials MELBA SPARKS Christmas From The Country to the City

INTERVIEWS ISHMAEL REED, HARRYETTE MULLEN & SHARON DENNIS WYETH DISCUSS THEIR CAREERS AND THEIR LOVE FOR WRITING 133

Poet, Teacher & Activist Ishmael Reed Speaks Out

139 147

Harreyette Mullen: A Sister Who Sings Her Own Songs Sharon Dennis Wyeth is “Something Beautiful”

ARTICLES ESSAYS 49

LEAH CREQUE-HARRIS The Love of My Life Is My Religion: The Spiritual Commitment of Zora Neale Hurston in Their Eyes Were Watching God

ANDREW P. JACKSON (Sekou Molefi Baako) In the Tradition: The Legacy of Cultural Messengers from Langston Hughes to Tupac Shakur

REMICA L. BINGHAM In Search of the “Shiny Man”: Identity and Spirituality In August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

THABITI LEWIS Sam Greenlee Makes a New World in The Spook Who Sat By The Door

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PROSE POETRY BOLADE S. AKINTOLAYO 221 Volunteer Slavery LAUREN ANTROSIGLIO 111 Eulogy* JENNIFER NICOLE BACON 205 They Walk Gingerly AMIRI BARAKA 127 A Monk Story TARA BETTS 197 Krylon Pink, an ode 197 Whiteout REMICA L. BINGHAM 119 How I Crossed Over LISA BLACKWELL 167 Six Feet Under Ain’t Far Enough STEPHANI MAARI BOOKER 237 Like Elephants SHONDA BUCHANAN 121 Wordsworth Speaks Harlem 121 Prophecy (from Nina Simone series) GABRIELLE DAVID 235 Epitaph of a Poet RITA DOVE 101 Moor with Emeralds PIETRA DUNMORE 162 Dance: Words and Phrases EDWARD FIELD 177 HAITI VAN G. GARRETT 172 a dragging in tx

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DAVID HENDERSON 123 Obama Obama 124 MLK (Mon)Day Early 21 Century 125 Little Ray EVERETT HOAGLAND 203 Say What!? TAMARA HOLLINS 122 my academe SAMUEL JABLON 171 Triangle Park GEOFFREY JACQUES 165 I Heard All The Music As If They Were Drums JA A. JAHANNES 207 Black Roots M. MALCOLM KING 118 The Practice of Relativity YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA 107 Box 108 Skulking Across the Snow BYRON LEE 155 Dilemma SHIRLEY BRADLEY LEFLORE 112 Song for a Black Woman MARY CATHERINE LOVING 160 East Harlem Madonna HAKI R. MADHUBUTI 126 The Last First

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DEVORAH MAJOR 103 august has always been black for us 104 names after emancipation LOUIS REYES RIVERA 104 snap 199 Rap swing 200 Sultry blue SONYA MCCOY-WILSON 209 The Test SONIA SANCHEZ 109 14 haiku (for Emmett Louis Till) C. LIEGH MCINNIS 175 Mississippi Courage: A Lighthouse DANNY SIMMONS to the World (for Medgar, Fannie 196 stir conjure brew Lou, and Ms. Devine) ASERET SIN 102 Omú Ìyá Dùn THERESA MCMILLER 156 My Black Afro MARY MCLAUGHLIN SLECHTA 129 Live BOB MCNEIL 192 Rapping You with the Facts SHAKEEMA SMALLS 169 cents TONY MEDINA 169 sadie 193 Hip Hop Hurts Sometimes 170 a struggle JESÚS PAPOLETO MELÉNDEZ ASKIA M. TOURÉ 157 Living In The Love Of The Ghetto 198 NUBIAN DAWN: A GODDESS SMILES People QUINCY TROUPE E. ETHELBERT MILLER 113 A Few Questions Posed 163 Excerpts From The Lost Diary 114 2002 Manhattan Snapshot: the War of the Black Houdini on Terror LENARD D. MOORE 115 Praise Song for Sekou; 179 River Night For Sekou Sundiata, August 22, 1948 – July 18, 2007 HARRYETTE MULLEN 155 Denigration LORA RENÉ TUCKER 201 Thug KAMARIA MUNTU 161 Jimmy’s Blues . . . RAN WALKER 122 Remembering Basquiat: GRACE OCASIO A Kwansaba 117 Light Sounds 122 The Lost Boys of South Bronx (A ISHMAEL REED Kwansaba on Hip-Hop) 156 Pinch Hitter A.C. WORKMAN 173 Children’s Television Workshop

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P H A T I ‘ T U D E L I T E R A R Y M A G A Z I N E W I N T E R 2 0 1 1

E D I T O R ‘ S N O T E G

“One ever feels his twoness — an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” — W.E.B. DuBois

s the publisher and edit or-in-chief editor or -in-chief of phati’tude Literary Magazine, I’m constantly thinking about different ways to promote literature, whether as an approach (Multiculturalism and Ekphrasis) or as targeting a specific culture (Native American

Gabrielle David, founder and editor of phati’tude Literary Magazine, is a writer and multimedia artist who has worked as a desktop publisher, photographer, visual artist, video editor and musician.

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and LGBT). It was just a matter of time that I would eventually do an African American Issue, and I felt that this was the perfect time to do so. Why? In the past decade, there haven’t been as many African American anthologies published as were in the 1990s (although I am pleased to report that quite a few will be coming out this year), so I felt there was a void that needed to be filled. There has also been a lot of chatter regarding the validity of African American literature in a “post-racial” society, so I felt it was important to celebrate the genre, as we know it. In presenting works of established and emerging artists collectively under one book, we would remind everyone how important this body of work is. So I am very pleased to present to

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our readers “CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY THROUGH LITERATURE: from the Harlem Renaissance to Today.” To define African American artists (both visual and literary), we begin with the cover artwork selection. At the suggestion of a colleague, we ap-

This, of course, sheds light on the larger question: “How others see us as African American artists?” or “How do we see ourselves?”

proached artist Danny Simmons. We met him, showed him PLM and managed to pique his interest. But when we told him we wanted him to do the cover for the African American issue, Simmons immediately asked a legitimate question — to wit, why is there an expectation that as a black artist he must produce black themes for an African American project? While I was initially taken aback, I realized that his concerns were legitimate. However, with some armtwisting on my part, he agreed to participate and provided us with a selection of existing works from which to choose. What I didn’t expect was the reaction from some of PLM’s editorial staff (which, by the way, is multicultural).

Since Simmons is an abstract artist, some felt his work was “not black enough” for an African American issue. Say what? You heard me. You know, “black enough,” meaning the cover should depict black people wearing kinte cloth, dreads, a ring in their nose, or maybe even a spear or two. You know, that kind of black. It was as if African American visual artists are required to include highly visible “black” elements in their work not only to legitimize themselves, but to also provide a specific depiction of what black people should look like. Needless to say, their reaction took me by surprise, but it also made me think. When you look at Simmons’ art closely, you can see the Afrocentric themes flowing throughout his work. He has traveled to Africa, and he studies and collects African art, but because his preferred genre is not figurative, some are quick to presume that his work is “not black enough.” Similarly, award-winning poet, Harryette Mullen, who I interviewed in this issue, has also had to deal with her validity as an African American poet because she has been labeled as avant garde and therefore her work is considered “not black enough”— at least, in some quarters. Artists, whether visual or literary, will reflect who and what they are — it’s an integral part of one’s being and will certainly come out, intentionally or unintentionally in the work. And so, despite the controversy, we proudly selected for our cover, Simmons’ painting, “Rising Above,” which we believe says something about black people in a way that is both affirming and colorful. This, of course, sheds light on the larger question: “How others see us as African American artists?” or “How do we see ourselves?” Simmons’ point drives home the issue of how black artists have been

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marginalized. While things have gotten somewhat better and progress has been made, many African American writers share this similar plight — an expectation that all things written by blacks should be limited only to African American issues, and should be categorized as such, which ultimately limits their audience. This reminds me of poet Robert Hayden, who declared himself, at considerable cost in popularity, an American poet rather than a black poet at a time when there was an irreconcilable difference between the two roles. There is scarcely a line of his which is not identifiable as an experience of black America, but he would not relinquish the title of American writer for any narrower identity. I think that most African American writers today continue to bear the burden of this duality and struggle with an identity that they are very proud of, but at the same time boxes them into a category defined by other people’s expectations. I must say, however, that I’ve noticed a trend in the past few years. While I heartily agree that, for many writers of color, the histories of their race are often intertwined in their stories and have the advantage of being able to bring a certain authenticity to them, I believe black authors can also realistically create protagonists of other races and cultures (James Baldwin comes to mind), and be well read and make money, just like their white counterparts. The problem is that while a few of these authors have made it into mainstream literature, many can’t escape the publishing industry’s narrow category of African American literature, regardless of what they write about. Additionally, putting African Americans on covers or not doing so has become a big issue in recent years — whether it’s using a white model to represent a black protagonist or omitting an author’s black face on the back cover or jacket. Some call it “whitewashing” (it reminds me of black songs being album “covered” with white images during the 1950s), but I just think it’s absurd and certainly doesn’t fall under the “we are the world, post-racial strata” that everyone can’t seem to stop talking about. And then there is the phenomena of “Urban Lit,” “Girlfriend,” “Street Lit” and other branches of commercial genre fiction by African Americans that have captured mainstream publisher’s attention. Besides all the obvious issues surrounding Urban Lit, black authors (some stuck in “midlist hell)” who do write in ambitious, thoughtful ways about American subjects are harder to find — even when they do get published. Moreover, after years of struggle and fighting against the corporate congloms that now own many of the mainstream publishing outlets, an unprecedented number of independent black presses have folded in the past few years.

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Yet despite these obstacles, the tenor of African American writers and the literature itself is changing. It’s changing because of the times we live in. It’s a far cry from what Phillis Wheatley experienced, or what Langston Hughes had to deal with, since slavery, lynching, segregation and Jim Crow are no longer part of our immediate landscape. This is certainly reflected by the submissions we received for this issue. The poems in this issue cover a wide range of styles and moods, including political (devorah major, Quincy Troupe, Van Garrett), historical (Sonia Sanchez), playfulness (Theresa McMiller, Byron Lee, A.C. Workman), love and beauty (Shirley Bradley LeFlore, Askia Toure), tributes (Ethelbert Miller, Geoffrey Jacques), and just commentary on daily life. Overall, I found the work to be thoughtful and informative, with both depth and beauty. The work is less about “who I am as a black person,” and more about “what and how I observe the world as a person who happens to be black.” I believe there is a difference, and that difference will change and grow over time. But this doesn’t mean that African American literature is no longer needed or necessary as a genre simply because Barack Obama’s ascendancy has spawned a “post-racial” society. This conclusion is deeply flawed. Yes, Obama’s victory has marked a milestone in U.S. race relations — and possibly even a milestone in global race relations, as Europeans, among others, look to us with wonder. But this doesn’t change the fact that African and Latino Americans do not have access to the same type of quality services (e.g., education, healthcare, legal representation, bank loans, real estate, and equitable access to major publishing houses) that many whites continue to have direct and easy access to. Such observations are not being offered here as “excuses” but as facts. America’s history is full of people, of all racial and ethnic stripes, whose exceptional combination of talent, diligence and luck has produced remarkable achievements, often in the face of high barriers to success. The point is that as a democratic society, we have a lot more work to do in order to close the gap across lines of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, geography, and religion. While critics and pundits are thrashing around this post-racial theory, African American scholars have been arguing about what African American literature “is” and “is not,” and what direction it should now take. In his essay, “What Is African-American Literature” (America.gov, 2009), Gerald Early, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, tackles Nick Chiles’ controversial

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op-ed piece, “Their Eyes Were Reading Smut” (which appeared in The New York Times in 2006), and attempts to defend some of the Urban Lit authors whose books have taken root in the African American community. Professor Emeritus Charles Johnson of University of Washington, argued in his seminal essay, “The End of the Black American Narrative,” that the “old black American narrative has outlived its usefulness as a tool of interpretation” (The American Scholar, June 2008). Chicago professor Kenneth W. Warren, in his recently published book, What Was African American Literature, believes that “African-American literature was a Jim Crow phenomenon” and that “one can no longer write African-American literature, any more than one can currently write Elizabethan literature” (The Chronicle of Higher Education, February 24, 2011). In his book, Deans and Truants: Race and Realism in African American Literature (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008), Associate Professor Gene Andrew Jarrett of Boston University examines how critics, scholars and authors have answered the question, “what is African American literature” by raising a plethora of issues relevant to all areas studied, be it ethnic, regional or gender-based. Jarrett recently finished writing another book, tentatively entitled, Representing the Race: The Politics of African American Literature from Thomas Jefferson to Barack Obama, which further investigates this topic. These are just a few examples of some of the ideas being raised about African American literature as a category and institution, and its future “role” in American arts and letters. Compelling and provocative arguments, they certainly warrant discussion and further examination. However, as important as Obama’s ascent is to the vexing question of race, it would be a mistake to assume it’s the end of racism in America and therefore, there is no longer a need for black institutions. There is a difference between issuing declarative statements proclaiming America “post-racial” and the reality that racism still plays a part in American life. In a perfect world, it would be great if black writers could just be writers with the same opportunities that white writers have in the publishing world. But until mainstream publishers change, or more importantly, the general public’s attitudes change toward black writers, these different ideas about what African American literature “is” and “is not” will remain nothing more than intellectual discourse, with one caveat — change, true change that comes about organically. We are not post-racial, yet race relations have improved somewhat, to the extent that we can actually have a conversation about the direction African American lit-

erature should take from here on out. From my perspective, Black identity is not linear in its development; it changes and grows based on either demands from the black community (i.e., Black Power Movement), or acceptance from the majority (white people). Black writers are constantly pushing the envelope by exploring different voices and outlets (the internet and self-publishing, to name a few) and that fact, coupled with societal changes, allows the seeds of canon reformation to take root. Literary traditions evolve and grow, not because of what the scholars and pundits think we should do, but because of what the people have chosen to do. And I believe that this is happening now — continuity and change, perhaps not as fast as we’d like, yet nevertheless, flowing and growing. The whole idea of African American Literature, as we know it today, speaks to the deeper meaning of the African American presence in this nation directly because it explores the very issues of freedom and equality which were long denied to black people in the United States, along with other themes (culture, racism, religion, slavery and a sense of home). I maintain that African American literature will always have a place in both American arts and letters and in the body of World Literature as well. That’s right — for African American literature is, in fact, part of world literature, given that we are part of an “African Diaspora” — part and parcel to wherever people of African descent reside. So my own personal perspective has broadened to include Afro-Caribbean writers (many of whom left the Caribbean and went to England, France, Canada and the U.S.), Afro-Brazilian, and African writers. In fact, if you’re talking about a writer from Puerto Rico or Cuba who has come to the United States, is that writer a Latin American or an African American or both? The role that “self-definition” plays in all of this is definitely something to weight. In the long run, as with all fads and styles, there will be a decline of interest in Urban Lit even while the quality of that genre will improve to the extent that established and more experienced writers will be able to use it to connect to younger readers. I think that in the next couple of years mainstream publishers will desire more ambitious work from African American writers, and that a steady movement of activism will evolve among the younger writers (both black and white), which will help develop a diverse readership for contemporary African American literary voices. Keeping all of this in mind, phati’tude Literary Magazine celebrates and salutes the African American writer.

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T H I S & T H A T R A N D O M

T H O U G H T S

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d a Bl ard Blaack G Gaay Towar Eff emin cism Effe minaate Criti Criticism Negro Faggotry is the rage! Black gay men are not. For in the cinematic and television images of and from black America as well as lyrics and dialogue that now abound and seem to address my life as a black gay man, I am struck repeatedly by the determined, unreasoning, often irrational desire to discredit my claim to blackness and hence my black manhood (1). — Marlon Riggs, 1991

HA T’S THE TEA HAT’S TEA,, CHILE? I am an effeminate black gay man. My voice is soft, my disposition is graceful, my signature is wispy, and I love scented lotions from Bath & Body Works. In fact, my three

favorite scents are “Japanese Cherry Blossom,” “Moon Light Path” and “White Citrus.” I use Oil of Olay face moisturizer for the day and its skin firming night cream before bed. I prefer to shower with “Dove Nutrium Moisturizer” body wash and I use Aveeno’s “Pomegranate + Rice” gentle scrub to exfoliate my skin twice monthly; and before heading to bed I lotion down with Oil of Olay’s “Quench” body lotion. My choice of lip-gloss is MAC’s “Sapalicious” and I visit the hair salon twice a month to get a “low-cut Caesar” to emphasis my wavy hair and to get my eye- brows threaded, not waxed. Not a day goes by where I don’t use the black-queer-vernacular, “chile boo.” Yes,, “boo,” I love being an effeminate black gay man (SNAP!). (cont’d pg. 14)

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VELED B HE TRA NIGHT,, following the BY TRAVELED Y NIGHT bright North Star in its unwavering vigil in the northern skies. Through swamps and woods, Harriet Tubman urged her band of runaway slaves on, bringing them through the treacherous and changing paths of the secret “Underground Railroad.” An escaped slave herself, she knew the hardships and the bonewearying suffering they were leaving behind. She had gained her own freedom in the same desperate way. Even so, even with a $40,000 bounty on her head, she went back to the south again and again to lead others to salvation. (cont’d pg. 18)

ir irsst H o m e: My FFir F i c t i o n

F r e e d o m

HEN I THINK ABOUT CUL TURE, I CULTURE, think about home. Everything I write starts from that first home. Also, I find it difficult to discuss only one social issue at a time, poverty and class, sexuality and gender identity, racial identity and ethnicity; to me these are all under the umbrella of culture and can easily be encapsulated in the description of home. Culture is usually defined when describing the home of your characters; where they’re coming from; where they aspire to go, and oftentimes reflects where we ourselves came from. Eudora Welty says that all writers are essentially assembled by the age of 15; that by the age of fifteen, you have your material.

MELISSA ANN CHADBURN

(cont’d pg. 19)

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oB e eels Be ee ls tto How it FFee Mulatto Me “No, I’m not an American. I’m one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism . . . . So, I’m not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waver—no, not I. I’m speaking as a victim of this American system. And I see America through the eyes of the victim. I don’t see any American dream; I see an American nightmare.” — Malcolm X

AM A MULA TT O BUT MAKE NO qualifica-tions MULATT TTO except to say that I am one of the few mulattoes who have been beaten up for being a nigger, a honky, and a filthy Arab. I have attained this privileged

status largely by traveling through a wide variety of cultural spaces in pursuit of an education. For, you see, I am not tragically mulatto. Far from it, I have taken my ambiguous racial identity — my permanent in-between status — as a kind of marching order, a command to boldly inhabit interstitial spaces whenever and wherever I find them. Hence, I compose this piece in a Paris recently burning, in a studio apartment littered with archival evidence pertaining to my doctoral research on translations of Langston Hughes. What follows is the absolutely true account of how I obtained my French student visa. It is a story of xenophobic bureaucracy and the narrative of how my ethnic ambiguity transformed itself from a conversational stumbling-block to a matter of national security in the post-9/11 era. Understand me: I am writing a completely verifiable tale of border and boundary crossing imbedded, curiously enough, inside the living myth of an eternal return of shifting racial designations. These shifting racial designations have been ascribed to me, to Langston Hughes, and to others as we move about the world. It imperfectly parallels the stakes that, often times, go (cont’d pg. 20)

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B O O K R E V I E W S E X P L O R I N G

L I T E R A T U R E

Our mission is to increase interest in reading by providing cool, short book recommendations in poetry, fiction and nonfiction. To submit book reviews, send them to editor@phatitude.org. Happy reading!

ANTHOLOGIES

So Much Things to Say: 100 Poets from the First Ten Years of the Calabash International Literary Festival edited by Kwame Dawes and Colin Channer Akashic Books, 2010 (www.akashicbooks.com) $16.95; 250pp; ISBN: 978-1936070077

ACH MA Y FFOR OR THE P AS T TEN YEARS MAY PAS AST YEARS,, the Calabash Writer’s Workshop Fellows hosts its annual Calabash International Literary Festival in Jamaica. Founded in 2001 by Jamaican novelist Colin Channer with the support of two friends — award-winning poet and playwright Kwame Dawes and producer Justine Henzell — their aim was simple: to create a world-class literary festival with roots in Jamaica that branches out into the wider world. (cont’d pg. 32)

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Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Resistance, Reform, and Renewal: An African American Anthology edited by Manning Marable and Leith Mullings Rowman & Littlefield, 2009 (www.rowmanlittlefield.com) $39.95; 704pp; ISBN: 978-0-7425-6057-4

HEN I FIRS T EXAMINED Let Nobody Turn Us FIRST Around, I thought of the American history books we had to read while attending elementary school and their deficiencies, as well as some of the few African American history books that were available back then (John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss Jr.’s From Slavery to Freedom comes to mind), and the vast resources that have become available now. Initially published in 2003, this second edition of Let Nobody Turn Us Around presents the African American experience in a unique and refreshing way. (cont’d pg. 33)

Black Noir: Mystery, Crime, and Suspense Fiction by African-American Writers edited by Otto Penzler Pegasus; 2009 $14.95; 336pp; ISBN: 978-1605980577

HA VE BEEN A LLO OVER OF MY STERIES and all things HAVE MYS mysterious since I was a child. I cut my teeth on Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, but as I got older I began to wonder if there were any mysteries that featured or were written by African-Americans like me. I knew about a few characters brought to life by television and the movies, and by the time I was an adult, I began reading works by Walter Mosley and Grace Edwards. However, it was after reading Black Noir: Mystery, Crime and Suspense Fiction by African-American Writers that I (cont’d pg. 33)

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Shaking the Tree A Collection of New Fiction and Memoir by Black Women edited by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah W. W. Norton & Co., 2004, (www.wwnorton.com) $14.95; 320pp; ISBN: 978-0393325805

HAKING THE TREE: A Collection of New Fiction and Memoir by Black Women is an explosive anthology that offers candor and authenticity. Twenty three writers pour their powerful stories onto the pages of this anthology of fiction and memoir. Shaking the Tree opens up with Asha Bandele revealing her process of being a Black woman writer, and notes trailblazers such as Alice Walker and Zora Neale Hurston who have provided today’s writers a sense of wholeness and freedom from censorship. (cont’d pg. 34)

Black Like Us A Century of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual African American Fiction edited by Devon W. Carbado, Dwight A. McBride, Donald Weise Cleis Press; 2002 (www.cleispress.com) $48.46; 600pp; ISBN: 978-1573441087

FRICAN AMERICAN LESBIAN GA GAY Y Bisexual and Transsexual writers (LGBT) have always been . . . well, sort of “homeless.” As a group, they have been marginalized by the Academy, and to a certain extent, are ignored by both the African American and LGBT literary communities. They are faced with a unique challenge — integrating two identities: one pertaining to ethnic culture and the other to sexual orientation in a society that does not fully accept either one. Black Like Us is an omnibus of writers that transcends traditional boundaries of racial and (cont’d pg. 35) sexual preference. And it’s about time.

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The Cambridge Companion to African American Women’s Literature edited by Angelyn Mitchell and Danille K. Taylor Cambridge Univ. Press; 2009 (www.cambridge.org) $29.99; 306pp; ISBN: 978-0521858885

LITERARY CRITICISM & CULTURAL THEORY

HE CAMBRIDGE COMP ANION to African AmeriCOMPANION can Women’s Literature contains specifically

commissioned essays, which poignantly highlight the creative, diverse, social and intellectual traditions of African American women writers from slavery to today. Editors Angelyn Mitchell and Danille K. Taylor bring together an extensive list of scholarly contributors from such universities as Howard, Rutgers and Georgetown. This book is a necessary companion for scholars of African American literature as well as those who are new (cont’d pg. 35)

The Black Arts Movement by James Edward Smethurst The Univ. of North Carolina Pr., 2005 (http://uncpress.unc.edu) $25.95; 3480pp; ISBN: 978-0807855980

N THE BLA CK AR VEMENT BLACK ART MOVEMENT VEMENT: Literary NationalTS MO ism in the 1960s and 1970s, James Edward Smethurst

chronicles and examines the debates, ideologies, institutions and aesthetics of the Black Arts Movement and the black literary artists who sought to create politically engaged work that explored, developed and ultimately helped define the African American experience. The significance of the Black Arts Movement has remained a hotly contested topic for almost four decades. It is true that the Black Arts Movement did not last long — it sprang from a collection of individual activities that converged and gained power in earnest (cont’d pg. 36)

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Children’s Literature of the Harlem Renaissance by Katharine Capshaw Smith Indiana Univ. Press, 2006 (www.indiana.edu) $21.95; 368pp; ISBN: 978-0253218889 “For joy has been our forte Thru years of strife and hate; Has wrested praise From cruel lips And changed the face of fate.” (“Yancey,” cited in Capshaw Smith, 2004, p.142)

HILDREN’S LITERA TURE of the Harlem RenaisLITERATURE sance is a book of literary criticism that provides the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the use of children’s literature during the New Negro Renaissance, which challenged conventional literary categories through the creation of political and social commentaries (cont’d pg. 37)

POETRY/PROSE Morning Haiku by Sonia Sanchez Beacon Press, 2010 (www.beacon.org) $14.95; 120pp; ISBN: 978-080706910-3

ONIA SANCHEZ’S POETR Y HAS a distinct rhythm: POETRY her words are syncopated beats that translate into musical notes. Whether Sanchez’s poetry conveys social

issues, an homage to a particular person, or just about life in general, her words have always “soothed the soul,” whether you read her words on the page, or hear her perform on stage. While she is often associated with the Black Arts Movement, Sanchez’s work over the years has stretched and moved, using a variety of styles, languages, dialects and techniques that have crossed boundaries. She has (cont’d pg. 38)

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A Temple Looming by Lenard D. Moore WordTech Commun., 2008 (http://www.wordtechweb.com) $17; 80pp; ISBN 13: 978-1934999103

HE USE OF VISU AL DESCRIPTION in poetry is an VISUAL act of “viewing” visual art in a particular place and time, giving it a personal and perhaps even an historical context. The result is then not merely a verbal “photocopy” of the original painting or photograph, but instead a grounded instance of “seeing,” shaped by forces outside the artwork. Such is the case in Lenard D. Moore’s latest poetry collection, A Temple Looming. A Temple Looming is a collection of poetry based on black and white photographs taken in the 1920s that were developed by visual artist Sherman Jenkins from (cont’d pg. 39)

Sonata Mulattica by Rita Dove W. W. Norton & Co., 2010 (www.wwnorton.com) $17; 231pp; ISBN:978-0393338935

ULITZER PRIZE WINNER AND FFORMER ORMER U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove’s lyrical and accessible poetry has always reflected her interest in music and drama, as well as her commitment to social justice and her sensitivity to women’s issues. Growing up around storytellers, Dove discovered the delight of shaping life with words, and because the journey of the narrative was interesting, the telling of the journey became paramount. Dove’s latest poetry collection, Sonata Mulattica, is a book-length narrative that dramatizes the relationship between about George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower (cont’d pg. 40)

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Barack Obama and the Jim Crow Media: The Return of the Nigger Breaker by Ishmael Reed Baraka Books, 2010 (www.barakabooks.com) $19.95; 190pp; ISBN: 0981240577

HE FIRS T ISHMAEL REED BOOK I ever read FIRST was Airing Dirty Laundry (1993). What a hoot! Reed’s writing is incisive and astute; impassioned and amusing. He fully researches his topics and makes a decisive stand based on the facts, as he sees it. Whether you agree with him or not, you at least get to explore a different viewpoint. Sometimes his words stick with you, and when you’re confronted with a specific issue that he raised in one of his books — could be months later — you find yourself thinking back to what (cont’d pg. 41)

Anna In-Between by Elizabeth Nunez Akashic Books, 2010 (www.akashicbooks.com) $15.95; 352pp; ISBN-10: 1936070693

N ANN A IN-BET WEEN, author Elizabeth Nunez demANNA IN-BETWEEN, onstrates how identity can create a confusion of hyphens. “That hyphen always bothers me,” her protagonist reveals. “It’s a bridge, but somehow I think there is a gap on either end of the hyphen. Sometimes I think if I am not careful, I can fall between those spaces and drown.” Nunez acknowledges that she wrote her latest novel, Anna In-Between to find answers in the silences that came about during a family crisis. Themes of breaking silence, nuances of intimacy, and the discomfort of “in-between” identities strongly shape this book, a sort of coming of mid-age story. (cont’d pg. 42)

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WHEN GABRIELLE DAVID (EDITOR-IN-CHIEF) asked me to write the introduction for our African American literature issue, I could not have been more ecstatic or committed. After all, my love of African American poetry, history, essays and memoirs flows from my roots. I also could not have been more committed to how I defined the meaning and experience of African American literature. Some things have remained constant, such as the tremendous importance of this issue and African American literature. However, my definition of African American literature evolved or expanded, mainly because of the wealth of writing submissions (from essays on African American literary giants to urban fiction to erotica) that we’d received. This expansion also derives from the many books in various genres that I have had the honor of reviewing. One thing that has helped shape and create a foundation for the theme of this issue is the need to honor and acknowledge African American classics, such as Invisible Man, The Souls of Black Folk, I Wonder as I Wander, and Their Eyes Were Watching God. This is essential and undeniable for me. Creating the theme for this issue, CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY THROUGH LITERATURE: From the Harlem Renaissance Movement To Today, presented a unique opportunity to showcase the brilliant works of such talented writers as Sonia Sanchez, Louis Reyes Rivera and Amiri Baraka to devorah major and Tara Betts. Moreover, it provided a forum for new writers, some of whom had not been recognized or published, to be read and acknowledged. My connection to the Harlem Renaissance Movement and the Black Arts Movement was a natural extension of my love of Black heritage and culture and my parents’ stories ARTWORK: Michelle S. Aragón

and lived experiences. I grew up in a household saturated with stories and books on Black culture from African American history to African American literature. My father grew up in Harlem (born toward the end of the Harlem Renaissance Movement). He has memories of his dad sharing stories of meeting and attending discussions led by such great men as W.E.B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey. My mother was a civil rights activist, participating in marches as early as in her high school years and organizing protests in the 1950s and 1960s. Her devotion to change and resistance was unwavering and sparked my quest for knowledge surrounding resistance art and writing of the Black Arts Movement. Developing themes for our readers, as insiders, seemed to make a tremendous difference. An exciting aspect of the creation and publication of this issue is that it was born of our own (editors and writers) cultural identities! Let me be clear, it is not that other people cannot or do not contribute to African American literature and culture; however, personal experiences often cannot be vicariously voiced. Therefore, within these pages you will find a collection of essays and other works that express a collective voice while acknowledging individual identities and experiences. It is my hope that we have successfully done justice to all who have shared their work on these pages and supported the vision and dissemination of African American literature. Moreover, this issue seeks to honor the classics and essential African American literary canon, while exploring the meaning of African American literature through writersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; voices on activism, love, race, politics, fiction and poetry. Furthermore, our intention is to honor African American literary traditions while upholding diversity in writing styles, opinions and content. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Jennifer N. Bacon, Ph.D. Associate Editor

AFRI C AN-AMERI C AN LI TERA TURE is a rich genre where poets and AFRIC AN-AMERIC LITERA TERATURE writers have explored the vast richness of black culture including slavery, racial issues, historical and political statements. They have also covered subjects of general concern, including childhood experiences, aging and life's purpose, and the quiet musings about spirituality and love. In the spirit of celebrating African American Literature, we asked six poets, devorah major, Lenard D. Moore, Stephani Maari Booker, Geoffrey Jacques, Mary Catherine Loving and Tony Medina (whose works are featured in this issue), eight questions about literature from an African American perspective. Not surprisingly, their answers are as varied as the niche each poet has carved out for themselves in the literary world. Their insights reflect a diversity that testifies to the richness of what African American literature has to offer to American arts and letters. (contâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d pg. 92)

How would you define today’s poetry scene in general, as it relates to African American poets? There is no one poetry scene, there never has been. Certainly there seems to be a broader swath of African American poets out there, some doing hip-hop poetry, some formalists, most with a commitment to various rhythms in free verse. I think that we are growing stronger in terms of craft and having an impact on the larger poetry world. That said, when one looks at any roster of upcoming poetry series or events that is not moderated by, if not a Black person a person of color, the (cont’d pg. 94)

How would you define today’s poetry scene in general, as it relates to African American poets? I think today's poetry scene for African American poets is defined by the mission and strength of writers’ or poetry collectives. For example, the Affrilachian Poets are developing and showcasing African American poets. Cave Canem is developing and showcasing African American poets. Eugene B. Redmond’s Writers’ Club is developing and showcasing African American poets. Carolina African American Writers' Collective is developing (cont’d pg. 94)

How would you define today’s poetry scene in general, as it relates to African American poets? I don't keep up with any kind of “poetry scene,” except maybe the spoken word scene, both nationally and locally (it's very active here in the Twin Cities). When it comes to published-on-paper poetry, I just read what I like, from Mark Doty to Nikki Giovanni, from Joy Harjo to Marilyn Hacker, from Audre Lorde to Raymond Carver, from Lucille Clifton to Nikky Finney, from e.e. cummings to Shel Silverstein.

(cont’d pg. 95)

How would you define today’s poetry scene in general, as it relates to African American poets? This seems to be a bumper time for African American poets. The continuing and prosperous existence of the black poetry group Cave Canem, the rising prestige of many poets, including the fact that Terrance Hayes won the National Book Award this year, all speak to this point. This is surprising, given the general, but inaccurate, impression that no one reads poetry anymore. (cont’d pg. 96)

PHOTO: Mark Blackshear

How would you describe today’s poetry scene in general as it relates to African American poets? Organizations such as Cave Canem are making it possible for African American poets to catch up, in a sense. We now have a room of our own, a place to receive encouragement and support. I think that having a place to be is one of the more important aspects of writing poetry, especially for African American poets. (cont’d pg. 97)

How would you define today’s poetry scene in general, as it relates to African American poets? At the present, the poetry scene, as it pertains to poets of color, reflects, to a certain extent, the American poetic landscape, with slight exceptions. As American poetry (since the late 70s and early 80s) has been dominated by the MFA model where white male poets have — through writing programs, white-run literary institutions and literary journals, awards and contests — Black poets (cont’d pg. 98) PHOTO: Marlene Hawthorne-Thomas

PHOTO: Tennessee Reed

SHMAEL REED IS PROBABL Y THE MOST CREA TIVE AND PROBABLY CREATIVE controversial African American writer who began his career in the 1960s. Praised for his irreverence and his postmodern experimentation early on in his career, he has also been criticized for being a misogynist, anti-feminist and even anti-black. Nowadays, Reed is well-respected by the scholarly establishment and his literary achievements are unquestioned. He is best known for his literary theory called the “Neo-HooDoo Aesthetic,” which deconstructs JudeoChristian models through Voodoo forms, and for his early advocacy of cultural pluralism, making him one of the founding figures of American multiculturalism. Reed is also recognized for leading the movement in African American writing away from social realism toward a more complex, non-linear style, whose work has charted a new path in African American writing. (cont’d pg. 134)

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go on sister sing your song lady redbone señora rubia took all day long shampooing her nubia “[go on sister sing your song]” by Harryette Mullen from Recyclopedia. Copyright © 2006 by Harryette Mullen.

ordplay splitting into puns. Psalms that sing the blues. Riddles turned into puzzles. Hip hyperbole. Old stories with a twist. Harryette Mullen’s poetry certainly does all this and more. Hailed by critics as unique, powerful and challenging, Mullen is an awardwinning poet who constantly slashes boundaries, positioning herself within and outside the canon of African-American literature. While she keeps the critics on their toes regarding form, dazzles academia with her poststructural emphasis on language, and entices an African American readership with accessible poetic language that interrogates the cultural meaning of blackness, Mullen has quickly built a reputation as an innovative, experimental poet. Born in Florence, Alabama, Mullen spent most of her childhood in Fort Worth, Texas. She has traced her impulse to write from growing up among Baptist ministers, typists, printers, educators and clerks. Mullen also credits the black teachers in Texas’ segregated school system with awakening a love of poetry by introducing her to Harlem Renaissance poets Langston Hughes, James Weldon and others. Another shot of inspiration was the rise of the Black Arts Movement, the literary arm of the civil rights and black power movements during the 1960s.

PHOTO: Hank Lazar, Venice CA

(cont’d pg. 140)

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HE DEMAND FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILDREN’S and young adult literature has increased steadily over the past four decades. It wasn’t that long ago when African Americans faced few depictions of themselves in American arts and letters, and if they did, it was nothing more than cruel stereotypes. Children’s literature didn’t fare any better. In fact, when one reviews the classics of the late nineteenth century (often referred to as the “Golden Age” of children’s literature), the profusion of books designed specifically for a young audience, including Grimms’ Fairy Tales, Alice in Wonderland, Little Women, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Jungle Book, and the Horatio Alger stories, did little to provide black children stories of self-esteem that honestly depicted their lives. It wasn’t until Amelia E. Johnson (known as Mrs. A.E. Johnson) began publishing her series of children’s and young adult books in 1890, that the genre of African American children’s and young adult books was born. While the early books and children’s magazines gave a message that growing up involved accepting a submissive attitude and an inferior role in society, as African Americans fought for civil rights, those old messages gave way to realistic portrayals of an African American culture that was met with the rise of a growing, educated black middle class. At first, famous and established poets and writers, such as Langston Hughes, Arna Bontemps, Ann Petry and Gwendolyn Brooks, used their status to (cont’d pg. 148)

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CONTRIBUTORS M E E T W H O

T H E P O E T S M A K E I T

& W R I T E R S H A P P E N!

Bolade S. Akintolayo is an editor, tutor, youth mentor and motivator. Born and raised in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, she currently resides in Connecticut, where she works with an intergenerational collective of artists that run an arts camp and produce cultural events in New Haven. She is also a member of Louis Reyes Rivera’s writers’ workshop in Brooklyn. Lauren Antrosiglio is a poet, artist and screenwriter. She lives in the mountains of Arizona, where she is currently attending Prescott College to receive her M.F.A. in Writing and Poetics. She is entwined in a steamy love affair with poetry, and is an activist for social justice. Jennifer Bacon is Associate Editor of phati’tude Literary Magazine. The founder of Black Women Writing, she received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Maryland. Bacon is a recipient of the 2010 Book In A Day writing fellowship in Florence, Italy; the 2009 recipient of Poetry Alive; and the 2008 recipient of the Pursue the Dream: Chris Mazza Award for Poetry Therapy. Her writing and research interests include social justice, poetry, culturally responsive pedagogy, global education, African American culture, gender studies and adolescent identity and development. She has published poetry in literary magazines such as phati’tude and Returning Woman. Amiri Baraka, poet, playwright and activist, is the author of over 40 books of essays, poems, drama, and music history and criticism. He has recited poetry and lectured on cultural and political issues extensively in the U.S., the Caribbean, Africa and Europe. His awards and honors include an Obie, the American Academy of Arts & Letters award, the James Weldon Johnson Medal for contributions to the arts, Rockefeller Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts grants, He is Professor Emeritus at SUNY at Stony Brook, and is the former Poet Laureate of New Jersey. www.amiribaraka.com Tara Betts is a poet, writer, activist and professor. Her work has appeared in publications such as Essence, literary magazines such as Obsidian III, Callaloo, Columbia Poetry Review, Ninth Letter, Hanging Loose, and Drunken Boat; and has been widely anthologized. Betts has also been a freelance writer for publications such as XXL, The Source, BIBR, Mosaic Magazine and Black Radio Exclusive. She has performed her work in Cuba, London, New York, the West Coast and throughout the Midwest and has appeared on HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam.” Betts recently published her debut poetry collection, Arc & Hue (Willow Books, 2009). Betts, a Cave Canem fellow, is a lecturer in creative writing at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. www.tarabetts.net Remica L. Bingham, a native of Phoenix, Arizona, earned an M.F.A. from Bennington College and is a Cave Canem fellow. Her work has published in New Letters, Callaloo and Essence. Her first book, Conversion (Lotus Pr.), won the Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award, and was shortlisted for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. A book of her selected poems, The Seams of Memory, will be translated into Arabic and published in 2011 in conjunction with the Kalima Project. She is the Writing Competency Coordinator at Norfolk State University. www.remicalbingham.com.

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C E L E B R A T I N G B L A C K H I S TO R Y T H R O U G H L I T E R A T U R E : FROM THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE TO TODAY Lisa Blackwell writes short stories and non-fiction to highlight the quality-of-life struggles of women and minorities. Her work has published in Makeshift Magazine and the anthology Woman’s Work: The Short Stories. Her latest work is the self-help guide, Are You a Mule or a Queen? www.muleorqueen.com Stephani Maari Booker is originally from Michigan and currently lives in Minneapolis. She holds an M.F.A. from Hamline University of St. Paul, MN, and is an editor of the African American newspaper Minnesota SpokesmanRecorder. Her creative work has published in the online journals Blithe House Quarterly and Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette; the collection 60 Seconds to Shine: 221 One-minute Monologues For Women (Monologue Audition Series, Vol. 2) (Smith & Kraus Inc., 2006), and the anthology Longing, Lust, and Love: Black Lesbian Stories (Nghosi Books, 2007). www.mnartists.org/Stephani_Booker Jasmine Iona Brown is a visual artist and writer. She earned her Bachelor's in Fine Arts from Howard University and a Master's degree in African Studies from UCLA. She has traveled to five continents and enjoys doing international volunteer work. Brown currently lives in Seattle, Washington with her son. Shonda Buchanan received her B.A. and M.A. in English from Loyola Marymount University, and her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Antioch University. She has freelanced for the Los Angeles Times, the LA Weekly, The Writer’s Chronicle and The International Review of African American Art; and her creative works have appeared in the anthologies Bum Rush the Page, Step into a World: A Global Anthology of New Black Literature, and Rivendale. Buchanan’s honors and awards include the Eloise Klein-Healy Scholarship Award, a PEN Center Emerging Voice fellow, a Sundance Institute fellow of the Writing Arts program, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and several Virginia Foundation for the Humanities grants. She is an assistant professor in the Department of English at Hampton University; an editor of Voices from Leimert Park: A Poetry Antholog;, and is working on a second collection of poetry, a memoir and a novel. Melissa Chadburn is of African, Asian, Hispanic, Filipina, and Irish descent, and was raised by Dutch/Indonesian and British foster parents. After formerly studying law, she obtained an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Antioch University. She has studied with writers Leonard Chang, Susan Taylor Chehak, Tananarive Due, Dana Johnson, and Steve Heller. Her work has appeared in 52/50, 5923 Quarterly, Battered Suitcase, Khimaril Ink, Thunderclap Press, Dynamic Magazine, The Bohemian, The Examiner, People’s Weekly World, Political Affairs, Shelf Life, and Splinter Generation. Kent Cooper has had over 80 songs recorded by various artists, including Louisiana Red, Johnny Shines, Sonny Terry and others. He is also a playwright, with plays put on by many different companies, including one on offBroadway. One of his plays, a blues musical, featured Guy Davis, the son of Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis. He continues to write in many different forms and always will. Leah Creque-Harris is a cultural activist and women’s advocate. She teaches English at Morehouse College and coordinates the English Department’s Multi-media Lab. Creque-Harris has published articles in Caribbean literature, and is in the anthology, Go Tell Michelle: African American Women Write to the First Lady (SUNY Pr., 2009). Creque-Harris recently codirected The International Conference on Caribbean Literature (ICCL) in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Gabrielle David, Editor-in-Chief of phati’tude Literary Magazine, is a multimedia artist that has worked as a desktop publisher, photographer, artist, video editor and musician. David has published several essays on multicultural literature and published the poetry collections: this is me, a collection of poems & things (CCI Books, 1994); and spring has returned & i am renewed (CCI Books, 1995). Her work has published in Paterson Literary Review, Journal of New Jersey Poets, AIM Magazine, and phati’tude Literary Magazine. She is the Executive Director of the Intercultural Alliance of Artists & Scholars, Inc. (IAAS), a NY-based nonprofit organization that promotes multicultural literature and literacy, which publishes phati’tude Literary Magazine. Rita Dove served as Poet Laureate of the United States and Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress (1993-1999). She was reappointed Special Consultant in Poetry for 1999-2000, the Library of Congress’s bicentennial year; and in 2004 Governor Mark Warner appointed her as Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Her poetry has earned her numerous awards, honors and fellowships, and she has published in countless magazines and anthologies. Her collection, Thomas and Beulah (1986) earned the 1987 Pulitzer Prize, making her the second African American poet (after Gwendolyn Brooks) to receive this prestigious award. Her latest poetry collection Sonata Mulattica (W.W. Norton, 2009), is reviewed in this issue of phati’tude Literary Magazine. Dove currently teaches creative writing at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where she holds the chair of Commonwealth Professor of English since 1993. Pietra Dunmore is a New Jersey native that writes poetry, short stories and creative non-fiction. She is a monthly contributor to Obaasema Magazine, and her poetry has been featured in the Journal of New Jersey Poets. Dunmore earned her B.S. in Photography and Creative Writing at Drexel University, and is working on her M.F.A. in Creative Writing. She is currently completing a collection of short-stories and poetry.

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Edward Field received a Lambda Award for Counting Myself Lucky, Selected Poems 1963-1992. His memoir, The Man Who Would Marry Susan Sontag, and Other Intimate Literary Portraits of the Bohemian Era; a travel diary, Kabuli Days, Travels In Old Afghanistan; and a book of poems, After the Fall, Poems Old and New, are recent titles. He lives in New York City with his partner Neil Derrick, with whom he collaborated on the four-generation historical novel of Greenwich Village, The Villagers, just out in a third, revised edition under their pseudonym Bruce Elliot. www.edwardfield.com. Van G. Garrett (also known as Fui Koshi) is an artist and author. He has received numerous honors including a BID Fellowship (Tuscany), and a Dr. Kwame Nkrumah International Study Scholarship (Ghana). His poetry has published in journals and anthologies based in the United States, Africa, Switzerland, Turkey and London; and his reviews and articles have appeared in African American Review; Film and History: The Documentary Tradition (CDROM); and the Encyclopedia of African American History: 1896 to the Present; From the Age of Segregation to the 21st Century (Oxford Univ. Pr.). His debut collection of poetry, Songs in Blue Negritude, is published by Xavier Review Press (2008). Garrett earned his M.A.IS from the University of Houston-Victoria and his B.A. from Houston Baptist University. He is the first student to receive a graduate certificate in African American Studies from the University of Houston. www.vanggarrettpoet.com David B. Green is a feminist and a doctoral student at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, investigating black gay and lesbian literary studies and U.S. cultural histories. He earned his B.A. in Economics from the University of Florida and his M.A. in African American studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Green has received numerous fellowships, including the Ronald E. McNair Fellowship (UF), an Advanced Opportunity Fellowship (UW), and an Audre Lorde Scholarship from the ZAMI Scholarship Foundation in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2007, his poem, “Silent Soliloquy” won the University of Florida’s Martin Luther King Activism Through the Arts Award, which was published in the University of Wisconsin’s Women in Redzine, a literary magazine. Yvonne Harriott was born in Jamaica and immigrated to Toronto with her family when she was eight years old. She published the short story, The Wedding, in Today’s BlackWoman magazine (2001), and was featured in WCDR Who’s Who section of The Word Weaver (Nov/Dec), a newsletter for writers and editors produced by the Writers’ Community of Durham Region. In 2007, her short story “The Colour of Love” won first prize in The Awaken the Mind Short Story Contest presented by Knowledge Book Store and PoeticSoul. www.yvonneharriott.com David Henderson has published four volumes of poetry, and his work has appeared in numerous literary publications and anthologies. Henderson, along with other black writers, founded the Society of Umbra in 1962, and served as editor and co-editor of Umbra as an outlet for black writers. He has worked with the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Free Southern Theatre in New Orleans, and Teachers and Writers Collaborative. He has also taught courses, seminars, and workshops at University of California at Berkeley and San Diego, Long Island University, New School, St. Mark’s Poetry Project, Naropa University, and was poet-in-residence at City College of New York. A revised and expanded edition of his highly-acclaimed biography of rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix published in 2006 as Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky — Jimi Hendrix, Voodoo Child. Almasi Hines is a native North Carolinian currently residing in Hamburg, Germany. He holds degrees from Morehouse College and Duke University. Everett Hoagland was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. He was the first mayorally designated Poet Laureate of New Bedford, M.A., from 1994-1998. His awards and honors include the Gwendolyn Brooks Award, two Massachusetts Artists Foundation fellowships, a fellowship from the National Endowment For The Humanities, the UMass Dartmouth Distinguished Service Award, induction into The International Literary Hall of Fame For Writers Of African Descent. His poetry has been published regularly since the 1960’s and has appeared in periodicals as diverse as: The American Poetry Review, Callaloo, Cross Cultural Poetics, Drum Voices, Essence, Political Affairs, Unity & Struggle; and anthologies The Best American Poetry 2002, African American Literature, Furious Flower, The Oxford Anthology of African American Poetry, Bum Rush The Page, and Afro Asia: Revolutionary Political & Cultural Connections. Hoagland is Professor Emeritus, English Department, University of Massachusetts: Dartmouth. Tamara Hollins earned her B.A. in Art (with distinction), from Hendrix College; an M.A. in Cultural Studies from Claremont Graduate University; an M.F.A. in Writing and Literature from Bennington College; and a Ph.D. in English from Claremont Graduate University. She has held teaching positions at the community college and undergraduate levels, and is currently an Assistant Professor of English at Cheyney University. Hollins is also the cofounder and co-sponsor of Alpha Nu Rho, Cheyney University’s chapter of the international English honors society Sigma Tau Delta.

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C E L E B R A T I N G B L A C K H I S TO R Y T H R O U G H L I T E R A T U R E : FROM THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE TO TODAY Samuel Jablon was born in Binghamton, New York and moved to Boulder, Colorado to attend Naropa University where he studied poetry and meditation. Jablon writes, paints and works in Brooklyn, New York. www.samueljablon.com Andrew P. Jackson (Sekou Molefi Baako) has been Executive Director of Queens Library’s Langston Hughes Community Library & Cultural Center for over 30 years. He earned a B.S. in Business Administration from York College, CUNY and a Master of Library Science from Queens College, Graduate School of Library and Information Studies (GSLIS). A published author, essayist and lecturer, he has dedicated his life to community building and empowering youth. Currently an Adjunct Lecturer at CUNY’s York College and Queens College-GLIS, he is the author of Queens Notes: Facts About the Forgotten Borough of Queens, New York (Outskirts Pr., 2010) and wrote the foreword to the ninth edition of the African American Almanac (Gale, 2007). Geoffrey Jacques is the author, most recently, of the poetry collection Just For a Thrill (Wayne State Univ. Pr., 2005), and a book of criticism, A Change in the Weather: Modernist Imagination, African American Imaginary (Univ. of Massachusetts Pr., 2009). He teaches literature and writing at New York University, John Jay College of the City University of New York (CUNY), and at York College, CUNY. Ja A. Jahannes is a poet, writer of fiction and nonfiction, a psychologist, educator, writer and a social critic. He is a frequent columnist for numerous publications, and his work has appeared in such diverse publications as the Journal of Ethnic Studies, Vital Speeches, the Journal of the National Medical Association, Ebony, the Black Scholar, Encore, Class, Black Issues in Higher Education and the Saturday Review. He is also contributing editor for Africanaonline.com. Jahannes has lectured throughout the U.S., in Africa, Asia, South America, the Middle East and Europe. Ryan James Kernan was born and raised in Lemert Park, the heart of South Central Los Angeles. He attended public schools in Los Angeles, graduated from Princeton, and received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from UCLA. His dissertation, which is now also his current manuscript, traces the translation and dissemination of Langston Hughes’s poetry in the Hispanic and Francophone worlds in order to provide a literary genealogy of global Black radicalism from 1930-1973. He is also a practicing playwright and translator. M. Malcolm King holds a B.A. in English from Long Island University, New York. The author of the poetry collection, Gem In I, his work has appeared in numerous anthologies. He has read his work in coffeehouses and libraries New York, New Jersey and at the Moja Arts Festival in Charleston, South Carolina as well as on radio and television stations in the New York tri-state area. He is a memebr of Harlem Arts Alliance. Yusef Komunyakaa is a Pulitzer prize-winning poet. Born and raised in Bogalusa, Louisiana, he served in the U.S. Army (1969-1970) as a correspondent and managing editor of the Southern Cross during the Vietnam war, earning him a Bronze Star. The author of eleven poetry volumes, his latest collection is Warhorses (2008) and his forthcoming collection is The Chameleon Couch (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2011). Komunyakaa’s honors include the William Faulkner Prize from the Université de Rennes, the Thomas Forcade Award, the Hanes Poetry Prize, fellowships from the Louisiana Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and was elected a Chancellor of The Academy of American Poets in 1999. He has taught at Indiana University, Princeton University and is currently Distinguished Senior Poet in New York University’s graduate creative writing program. Byron Lee is a features writer for Limelight Magazine and River City Examiner. A graduate of Lindenwood University’s M.F.A. in Creative Writing program, he has published in Drumvoices Revue and The East St. Louis Monitor. Shirley Bradley LeFlore is a published and oral poet/performing artist. She holds a B.A. in Language Arts and Behavioral Science from Webster University in St. Louis, MO, and an M.A. in Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Having taught at various colleges and universities throughout the country, she is currently an adjunct professor at Lindenwood University. LeFlore has read and performed her work on stage, television and radio; has published in numerous anthologies and magazines; and is featured prominently on “J.D. Parran and Spirit Stage” and “Hamiet Bluiet’s BBQ Band” recordings. Her honors include a National Institute in Minority Mental Health Fellow (NIMH), and is the recipient of Missouri Arts Council and CDCA grants. Her poetry collections, Brassbones and Rainbows and Rituals, are forthcoming. Thabiti Lewis is from St. Louis Missouri. He received his M.A.T. (English Education focus) from the University of Rochester, his B.A. in English and History (with honors) from the University of Rochester, and obtained his Ph.D. in English from St. Louis University. He has written for newspapers, magazines and journals such as The Source Magazine, Crisis Magazine, NewsOne, The St. Louis American, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oregon Humanities Magazine, and The Oregonian. His honors include a summer fellowship at Indiana University in Bloomington, and a Lilly Library Grant from Indiana University. He recently published Ballers of the New School: Race and Sports in America (Third World Pr.); and is the editor of the forthcoming book Conversations with Toni Cade Bambara (Univ. Pr. of

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Mississippi, 2012). He is currently an Associate Professor of English at Washington State University Vancouver. Mary Catherine Loving has published poetry in the African American Review, The Florida Review, Dogwood Review, Warpland, and Afro-Europa. Her book for children, Poets for Young Adults, Their Lives and Work, was published by Greenwood Publishing in 2006. Forthcoming publications include the poems, “For Gloria, Para Mi,” and “Ars Poetica” (Univ. of Texas Pr., 2011), and a book on Phillis Wheatley (Africana Homestead Legacy Pub., 2012). Haki R. Madhubuti is an author, educator, and poet. He served in the U.S. Army (1960-1963) and received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. Madhubuti is the founder, publisher, and chairman of the board of Third World Press (established in 1967), which today is the largest independent black-owned press in the United States. He has published 24 books (some under his former name, “Don L. Lee”), recently Liberation Narratives: New and Collected Poems: 1966-2009 (2009); Black Culture Centers: Politics of Survival and Identity (2008); and African-Centered Education: Its Value, Importance, and Necessity in the Development of Black Children (2008). Madhubuti is a founder and board member of the National Association of Black Book Publishers, a founder and chairman of the board of The International Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent, and founder and director of the National Black Writers Retreat. His honors and awards include an American Book Award, the Kuumba Workshop Black Liberation Award, the Broadside Press Outstanding Poet’s Award, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. devorah major, a poet, performer, novelist and arts activist, served as Poet Laureate of San Francisco 20022006. Her poetry books include street smarts, where river meets ocean, and with more than tongue; and the novels, An Open Weave and Brown Glass Windows. major collaborated with composer Guillermo Galindo to create “Trade Routes,” a symphony with spoken word and chorus that premiered with the Oakland East Bay Symphony. She has toured nationally and internationally and is a featured poet on six CD albums. Her poetry collection, war tears and the novel Ice Journeys, are forthcoming. She is a poet in residence at San Francisco’s Fine Arts Museums and adjunct Professor at the California College of the Arts. Sonya McCoy-Wilson is a literary fiction writer and a native of Los Angeles, CA. She received an M.A. in Literary Studies and a B.A. in English, with a concentration in Creative Writing at Georgia State University. Her short stories have appeared in the Tidal Basin Review, Diverse Voices Quarterly and TimBookTu. She teaches Writing and English in Atlanta, GA. www.sonyamccoywilson.com. C. Liegh McInnis, an instructor of English at Jackson State University, is the publisher and editor of Black Magnolias Literary Journal. He is the author of seven books, including four collections of poetry, one collection of short fiction, Scripts: Sketches and Tales of Urban Mississippi, and one work of literary criticism, The Lyrics of Prince: A Literary Look at a Creative, Musical Poet, Philosopher and Storyteller. McInnis has presented papers at national conferences, such as College Language Association and the Neo-Griot Conference, and his work has appeared in Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, Sable, New Delta Review, In Motion Magazine, MultiCultural Review, New Laurel Review, Brick Street Press Anthology, and the Oxford American. In January 2009, McInnis, along with eight other poets, was invited to read poetry in Washington, D.C. by the NAACP for their Inaugural Poetry Reading celebrating the election of President Barack Obama. www.psychedelicliterature.com. Theresa McMiller is an undergraduate at IUPUI, earning her Bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in Creative Writing. She has published two historical fiction novels and a short story for a national magazine. Bob McNeil was born in New York City to a Saint Vincentian mother and an African-American father. McNeil was the Poetry Editor for BLACFAX and has published two books: Secular Sacraments, and The Nubian Gallery, A Poetry Anthology. He also performs with his spoken word and music group, “The Grande Beats.” Tony Medina, born and raised in the South Bronx, is the author of 14 books for adults and children, the most recent the poetry collections, Broke On Ice ( (Willow Books/Aquarius Pr.), 2011), My Old Man Was Always on the Lam (2010); and the children’s book, I and I: Bob Marley, with illustrator Jesse Joshua Watson (2009). Medina was featured in Poets Against the Killing Fields (Trilingual Pr., 2007) and is an advisory editor for Nikki Giovanni’s anthology, Hip Hop Speaks to Children (Sourcebooks, 2008). His poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in over eighty publications and two CD compilations. His poetry collection, An Onion of Wars (Third World Pr.) and children’s book. The President Looks Like Me (Just Us Books) is forthcoming. Medina earned his M.A. and Ph.D in Poetry and American and African American Literature from Binghamton University, SUNY, and is currently Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Jesús Papoleto Meléndez is one of the original founders of the Nuyorican poets’ movement. He is a recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry (2001); an Artist for Community Enrichment (ACE) Award

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C E L E B R A T I N G B L A C K H I S TO R Y T H R O U G H L I T E R A T U R E : FROM THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE TO TODAY from the Bronx Council on the Arts, New York (1995); and a COMBO (Combined Arts of San Diego)-NEA Fellowship in Literature (1988). Meléndez has spent the past 30 years working as a poetry-facilitator working in the public schools, coordinating successful poetry/creative writing workshops impacting the lives of thousands of young people. The author of the poetry collections, Casting Long Shadows (NY, 1970), Have You Seen Liberation (NY, 1971), Street Poetry & Other Poems (Barlenmir House, NY 1972), and Concertos On Market Street (1993). E. Ethelbert Miller is a poet, teacher and a literary activist. He received his B.A. from Howard University and since 1974, has been director of Howard University’s African American Resource Center. Miller has taught at various schools, including American University, Emory & Henry College, and George Mason University, and Bennington College. He is the author of nine books of poetry, two memoirs and the editor of three poetry anthologies. His recent poetry collection is How We Sleep On the Nights We Don’t Make Love (Curbstone Pr., 2004) and the memoir Fathering Words: The Making of an African American Writer (2000). His work has appeared in numerous publications including Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Poet Lore, and Sojourners. The founder and director of the Ascension Poetry Reading Series, one of the oldest literary series in the Washington area, he currently serves as board chairperson of the Institute for Policy Studies, a board member of The Writer’s Center and is editor of Poet Lore magazine. Lorraine Miller Nuzzo has been Curator, Art Director of phati’tude Literary Magazine and “phati’tude-related” projects since 1997. While pursuing her professional career, Nuzzo studied painting with Mary Nagin and Carole Jay in New York; and with Tim Holden in Italy. She has held exhibitions at MIB and BJ Spoke Gallery; and is also a former partner of “hotshots unlimited photography,” which held an exhibit at the Langston Hughes Library. She holds a Master’s degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Hofstra University and a Bachelors degree in Psychology with a minor in Art from SUNY, Empire State. www.rainynuzzo.com Shavetta L. Morgan was born Macon, GA. She is a Cosmetologist and is currently attending Virginia College to earn a degree in Administrative Office Management. phati’tude Literary Magazine is her first publication. Lenard D. Moore was born in Jacksonville, North Carolina. He is a writer of more than 20 forms of poetry, drama, essays and literary criticism, and has been writing and publishing haiku for over 20 years. In 2008, Moore became the first Southerner and the first African American to be elected as President of the Haiku Society of America. He is Executive Chairman of the North Carolina Haiku Society, founder and Executive Director of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective, and co-founder of Washington Street Writers’ Group. He has won the Sam Ragan Fine Arts Award for his contribution to the fine arts of North Carolina. His poetry collection, A Temple Looming (WordTech, 2008) is reviewed in this issue of phati’tude Literary Magazine. Harryette Mullen is a poet, short story writer, and literary scholar. Her books include Tree Tall Woman (1981), Trimmings (1991), S*PeRM**K*T (1992), Muse & Drudge (1995) — the latter three of which were collected into her most recent book, Recyclopedia (Graywolf, 2006) which received a PEN Beyond Margins Award. In 2002, she published both Blues Baby: Early Poems and Sleeping with the Dictionary, a finalist for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Award in poetry. Mullen is the winner of the fourth annual Jackson Poetry Prize from Poets & Writers and is the 2009 recipient of the Academy of American Poets Fellowship. Her other honors include artist grants from the Texas Institute of Letters and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, the Gertrude Stein Award in Innovative American Poetry, and a Rockefeller Fellowship from the Susan B. Anthony Institute for Women’s Studies at the University of Rochester. She teaches African-American literature and creative writing in the English Department at the University of California, Los Angeles. Kamaria Muntu is an African American artist, poet and activist. She has completed a volume of poetry, and has two poems featured in the critically acclaimed anthology Call & Response: The Riverside Anthology of the African American Literary Tradition. Muntu has presented her work to audiences throughout the U.S. and Canada, most notably at the “National Black Arts Festival” in Atlanta Georgia. As part of her work as an activist, she has cowritten a critique on The Million Man March, which is featured in the anthology, Fertile Ground; Memories & Visions. Muntu currently resides in London, where she has founded her own production company, Right Limb Films. She is currently editing a film she wrote and produced, entitled Les Morts: The Black Women. Grace Ocasio was born in New York City and raised in Hartsdale and White Plains, New York before relocating to Charlotte, North Carolina. She is a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network, the North Carolina Poetry Society, and the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective. She holds an M.F.A. in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College and an M.A. in English from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her work has appeared in Rattle, Drumvoices Revue and Court Green, The Review, Review, The Charlotte Observer, Rapid River, and InterRace. In

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2008 she won second prize for her poem, “On Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue,” in the James Larkin Pearson free verse category of an annual poetry contest sponsored by the Poetry Council of North Carolina. She served from 2001-2004, as a member of the advisory committee for Central Piedmont Community College’s Spring Literary Festival. Ishmael Reed is a poet, essayist and novelist known for his satirical works that challenge American political culture, and highlight political and cultural oppression. His published works include his nine novels, six collections of poetry, including New and Collected Poems, 1964–2007; eight collections of essays, most recently Barack Obama and the Jim Crow Media: The Return of the Nigger Breakers (2010); one farce, Cab Calloway Stands In for the Moon or The Hexorcism of Noxon D Awful (1970); one libretto, Gethsemane Park; a sampler collection, The Reed Reader (2000); two travelogues, of which the most recent is Blues City: A Walk in Oakland (2003); and six plays, collected by Dalkey Archive Press as Ishmael Reed, The Plays (2009). His honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts, and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Reed recently retired from teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught for thirty-five years. Louis Reyes Rivera, Guest Editor of phati’tude Literary Magazine, is an award-winning poet and a professor that specializes in African American, Puerto Rican, and Caribbean literature and history; a political activist; and a radio talk show host. He is the author of three poetry collections: Scattered Scripture (1996), This One for You (1983), and Who Pays the Cost (1977). Known as the “Janitor of History,” Rivera is the recipient of numerous awards, including a lifetime achievement award from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a Special Congressional Recognition award, and City College of New York’s 125th Anniversary Medal. A respected underground poet, Rivera assisted in the publication of more than two hundred books, including John Oliver Killens’ Great Black Russian (1989), Adal Maldonado’s Portraits of the Puerto Rican Experience (1984), and Bum Rush The Page: A Def Poetry Jam (2001). Azizah Salaam was born in Macon, Georgia. She enrolled in Virginia College to earn a degree in Administrative office management. phati’tude Literary Magazine is her first publication. Sonia Sanchez is a poet, activist, professor, and international lecturer on black culture and literature, women’s liberation, peace and racial justice. She has published over 16 books, including her recent poetry collection,, Morning Haiku (Beacon Pr., 2010), which is is reviewed in this issue of phati’tude Literary Magazine. Sanchez is contributing editor to Black Scholar and the Journal of African Studies. Additionally, she has edited two anthologies, We Be Word Sorcerers: 25 Stories by Black Americans and 360 Degrees of Blackness Coming at You. Her many honors include the Robert Frost Medal for distinguished lifetime service to American poetry, the Langston Hughes Poetry Award, the National Endowment for the Arts Lucretia Mott Award, and the Outstanding Arts Award from the Pennsylvania Coalition of 100 Black Women. Sanchez was the first Presidential Fellow at Temple University, where she held the Laura Carnell Chair in English. www.soniasanchez.net Jon Sands, Editor of phati’tude Literary Magazine, has been a full-time teaching and performing artist since 2007. He is a recipient of the 2009 New York City-LouderARTS fellowship grant, and has represented New York City multiple times at the National Poetry Slam, subsequently becoming an NPS finalist. He is currently the Director of Poetry and Arts Education Programming at the Positive Health Project, a syringe exchange center located in Midtown Manhattan, as well as a Youth Mentor with Urban Word-NYC. Sands’ poems have appeared in decomP, Suss, The Literary Bohemian, Spindle Magazine, The November 3rd Club, and many others. Danny Simmons is an arts activist, abstract-expressionist painter, poet and author. He has published the graphic novel ‘85 (Atria, 2008); the poetry collection I Dreamed My People Were Calling But I Couldn’t Find My Way Home (Moore Black Pr., 2007); and the novel Three Days as the Crow Flies (Washington Sq. Pr, 2004). His book, Deep in Your Best Reflection, is a collection of erotic poetry (featuring poems in 160 characters) and artwork, is reviewed in this issue of phati’tude Literary Magazine. www.dannysimmonsartist.com. Aseret Sin’s poetry has appeared in FEMSPEC, Eyeball, Obsidian II, and The Griot. Mary McLaughlin Slechta has published her fiction and poetry in numerous publications, including Many Mountains Moving, Lynx Eye, The Paterson Literary Review and The Gihon Review. and was included in Rattle’s “Tribute to African American Poets,” as well as the Uphook Press anthology, You Say. She has published the chapbooks, Buried Bones (Foothills Pub., 2004) and Wreckage On a Watery Moon (Foothills Pub., 2005), and an illustrated chapbook, The Boy’s Nightmare and other poems, is forthcoming from Feral Press. She joined the editorial staff of The Comstock Review in 2003 and currently serves as associate editor. Slechta teaches English as a Second Language where she lives in Syracuse, New York.

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C E L E B R A T I N G B L A C K H I S TO R Y T H R O U G H L I T E R A T U R E : FROM THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE TO TODAY Shakeema L. Smalls is a student at Howard University in Washington, DC. She is currently the short fiction editor for Howard’s literary magazine, The Amistad. She has published in Tidal Basin Press. Stephanie Small, originally from Canada with West Indian roots, currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. She has written children’s books, romance novels, numerous short stories and poetry, and has recently tried her hand at nonfiction. Small earned her Master’s degree from the City University of New York and Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and English from the University of Windsor. She facilitates learning workshops and writes training curriculum to help individuals gain the knowledge they need to change their lives. Melba Sparks was born in Statesboro, GA and raised in Nevils, GA. She is attended Central Georgia Technical College and is pursuing a degree as a Surgical Tech at Virginia College phati’tude Literary Magazine is her first publication. Askia M. Touré is a poet, essayist, artist, editor, activist, and lecturer in African history, black studies, and creative writing. Touré, one of the principal architects of the 1960s Black Arts Movement, was a member of the legendary Umbra Group and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, he has remained an activist poet throughout the years. His recent publications include Mother Earth Responds: Green Poems and Alternative Visions (Whirlwind Pr., 2007); African Affirmations: Songs for Patriots (Africa World Pr., 2007); Dawnsong! The Epic Memory of Askia Touré (Third World Pr., 2000), which won an award from the African-American Literature and Culture Society; and From the Pyramids to the Projects: Poems of Genocide and Resistance! (African World Pr., 1990), winner of an American Book Award. His essays and poems have published in Black Scholar, Soulbook, Black Theatre, Black World, and Freedomways. His honors and awards include Modern Poetry Association award, Columbia University Creative Writing grant, Gwendolyn Brooks Lifetime Achievement Award, and Stephen Henderson Poetry Award. Quincy Troupe is a poet, editor, journalist. The author of seventeen books, his latest poetry collection is The Architecture of Language, recipient of the 2007 Paterson Award for Sustained Literary Achievement; and Transcircularities: New and selected Poems (Coffee House Pr., 2002), selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the ten best books of poetry published in 2002, which was awarded the 2003 Milt Kessler Poetry Award. He is also the author of Miles and Me: A Memoir of Miles Davis (2000); and wrote with Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness (Harper, 2006). Troupe edited the anthology Giant Talk: An Anthology of Third World Writing (1975) and is a founding editor of Confrontation: A Journal of Third World Literature and American Rag and the founding Editorial Director of Code. Among his honors and awards are fellowships from the National Foundation for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts. He was the first official poet laureate of the state of California and is professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego. Troupe currently resides in Harlem, New York City, where he edits NYU’s Black Renaissance Noire and continues to write. Lora René Tucker is Assistant Editor of phati’tude Literary Magazine. She holds a BFA in Inerior Design and a Masters in Social Work from Hunter College. She currently practices social work through Positive Direction, offering individual and creative therapy, cultural sensitivity and empowerment workshops. Tucker has performed her poetry at the Poetry Project, the Bowery Poetry Club and the Knitting Factory in NYC; and recently debut the poetry collection, Writes of Passage (2009). positive-directions.blogspot.com, inharmony2day.blogspot.com Raymond R. Villegas returned to college as a non-traditional student in 1999. He received his B.A. (2003) and M.A. (2005) in Applied English Linguistics from Arizona State University. Since 2005, Villegas has taught English Composition specializing in Narrative, Descriptive, Expository, Ethnography, Process, Analysis and Argumentative essays. He has used his linguistics degree to teach English to native Mexicans residing in Arizona, as well as teaching English overseas in Seoul, South Korea. He is a member of Georgia Writers Association, Florida Writer’s Association, National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and Conference on College Composition and Communications (CCCC). He is currently working at Virginia College in Macon, GA as an English Composition Instructor, assisting non-traditional students find their career in life through writing. Ran Walker is a native Mississippian who gave up the practice of law to become a writer. His work has appeared in various anthologies and literary journals, and he was awarded several fellowships, including the Mississippi Arts Commission/National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Creative Nonfiction in 2005. Walker has also participated in both the Hurston-Wright Writers Workshop and the Callaloo Writers Workshop. He currently serves as a creative writing professor at Hampton University. A.C. Workman is a freelance magazine writer based in Southern California. Her work has appeared in a variety of digital and print publications, including BUST, HONEY, Heart & Soul, OneWorld, CLUTCH and Vision. Currently a contributing features writer and blogger for the UK magazine, ComplexD, Workman’s previous poetic compositions have been featured in YMIB and the anthology, Honey, Hush!: An Anthology of African American Women’s Humor.

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C O V E R A R T Danny Simmons DANNY SIMMONS IS AN ARTS ACTIVIST, PAINTER, POET AND AUTHOR who has maintained a steadfast presence in New York’s Brooklyn arts community for over thirty years. An abstract-expressionist painter, Simmons, who began painting in the early 1970s, works with canvas, paper, oil paint, found objects, gesso and wax. His early works were in form similar to modern paintings but in content addressed postmodern subjects of individuality and identity, in relation to urban existence. During the 1980s, Simmons closely studied modernist ideas and techniques (such as the surrealists, André Breton and Salvador Dali), and was particularly drawn to Wilfredo Lam, whose Afro-Chinese-Cuban heritage provided an attractive as well as personal point of reference. In the mid-1990s, Simmons discovered painter Ouattara Watts, whose works encouraged him to introduce African forms and symbols into his own art, a style that he labeled “Neo-African Abstract Expressionism.” By the turn of the century, Simmons has shed entirely the semi-figurative element in his work, and has attained a level of full abstraction. These days, Simmons seeks to create works of spirituality and emotion that uses less paint, yet speaks to viewers on multiple levels. His work has shown nationally, and is represented in permanent collections at the United Nations, Chase Bank, Deutsche Bank and the Schomburg Center for Black Culture in New York; and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Simmons is also an obsessive and eclectic art collector of African art and comic books. Besides developing and producing his own artwork, Simmons has ardently promoted artists, poets and writers. As an arts activist and in the spirit of positioning the visual arts as an integral component of his community, Simmons has opened his residential space in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, for cultural, social and political events. The Corridor Gallery that is annexed to his residential space, serves this purpose. Simmons is also known as a cofounder (together with his siblings, hip-hop mogul Russell, and Joseph of “Run DMC”) of the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation. Since its inception, the foundation has raised several millions of dollars from public and private sources, for financing art programs that target inner city kids. Simmons’ collaboration with brother Russell resulted in the award-winning Def Poetry Jam, an HBO production and as Def Poetry Jam on Broadway in 2002. In the cultural and social arena, Simmons has collaborated in different capacities with numerous groups and institutions, for example, Brooklyn Museum, Pratt Museum, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the New York Foundation of the Arts, The New York Civil Liberties Union, the United Nations, and the Red Clay Arts Organization. In 2008, Governor David A. Paterson appointed Simmons to the New York State Council on the Arts, and he was also presented with the Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture, for his role in establishing Rush Philanthropic and The Corridor Gallery. Finally, Simmons is an accomplished poet and writer in his own right. He has published the graphic novel ‘85 (Atria, 2008); the poetry collection I Dreamed My People Were Calling But I Couldn’t Find My Way Home (Moore Black Pr., 2007); and the novel Three Days as the Crow Flies (Washington Sq. Pr, 2004). His forthcoming books are a collection of erotic poetry and artwork entitled Deep in Your Best Reflection, and poems in 160 characters, poems that fit inside one text screen page, in Spring 2011. When Simmons speaks about various avenues and ventures he has initiated or has taken, he often credits his mother for the attitude and advice that she conveyed to him: “Do what you want to do, not what someone expects you to do.” www.dannysimmonsartist.com. COVER ART: "Rising Above" by Danny Simmons. Oil, pastel, charcoal on paper, 22” x 30” in. Photograph by Mark Blackshear. Copyright © 2006.

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