the shadow and weight of him

woke up with a pen in my hand.
i’ve been writing to him in my sleep again.
the letter opener is missing, his boyfriend gave.
no one else is there, there’s no one else to name.
woke up with a pen in my hand.
i’ve been writing to him in my sleep again.

Lee Daniels’ “Precious: Based On The Novel PUSH By Sapphire” Honored With Toronto International Film Festival’s Cadillac People’s Choice Award

Rare Double Audience Honors From Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals Join Prix Du Jury from Deauville American Film Festival In Film’s Mounting Festival Decoration
Santa Monica, CA (BlackNews.com) – LIONSGATE® (NYSE: LGF), the leading next generation studio, announced today that Lee Daniels’ “Precious: Based On The Novel PUSH By Sapphire,” has won the Cadillac People’s Choice [...]

picking at scabs

being a floridian i love oranges. my love for oranges grew in college. there were baskets of free oranges in the cafeteria. i’d take two. sometimes three. i’d eat them throughout the day. i think that’s why my hands are so rough. that’s the story i tell people. i never put on lotion. lotion is [...]

saturday in june

saturday in june., originally uploaded by darnell [LC.].

sadness become him

blogging is such a bore sometimes. it feels too much like a journal. but journals are not connected to the web. what i loved about blogging was the connection. to be connected to people. i don’t feel like i am connected so i stopped writing.
what i forgot was how this blog made me start back [...]

darcy: a poem

each step. his face turns away from me.
it couldn’t be from anywhere else.
forever. to say. he turns sideways.
for now. he means.
i know forever is never forever.
can you handle me for now he says.

love txt 1/12/09

really miss sleeping beside you. stay safe.
r.s.

Push, Sapphire novel turned screenplay, a must see

I was living in Ann Arbor at the time. A friend, who happened to be a drag king recommended I read Push. I had never heard of the book or the author, Sapphire. I loved the cover, brick red background, bold black letters, simple. The first page had me. Claireece Precious Jones, the main character, [...]

Vincent (Starry Starry Night)

Vincent (Starry Starry Night) by Don McLean
Starry starry night, paint your palette blue and grey
Look out on a summer’s day with eyes that know the darkness in my soul
Shadows on the hills, sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills, in colors on the snowy linen land
Now I understand what you [...]

the empty seat at the table

i looked at my cell phone. mom called. i didn’t hear the phone ring. i purposely set the ring to silent. hearing merry Christmas or happy anything makes me a bundle of nerves. the holidays remind me of family. i try to distance my family to keep the unspoken things between us unspoken. how do [...]

an accidental approach: a poem

an accidental approach
red lights mute faces
he’s facing me
an awkward pause
i can’t make him want me
a handshake then an embrace
i can’t make him want me

things that piss me off about black people

i subscribe to a pr listserv, blacknews.com. i get emails everyday about news in the black community. sometimes i get gems like an article about farrah gray (or dr. farrah gray – it’s honorary so it doesn’t really count). i normally just delete it when i see it. i didn’t today. perusing the article titles, [...]

writing for the new gay black male writer

yesterday it just felt like this thing was missing from out of my body. i just wanted to sleep.
i started writing a book four years ago. i had no idea it would take four years to complete. i was working at a public library and lonely. books became my bedside companion after my boyfriend stopped [...]

the metal dog: a poem

dog collars are to control
black, something written on it, in silver
he jumped up
i picked him up
men shouldn’t be so heavy

the great debaters

put me in front of a group of people and i start to shake. my hands were shaking on stage, literally. i had to put my note cards down. i saw terror in myself. then i remembered – breathe. i rehearsed at home. breathe. i rehearsed on the way to the office. breathe. breathe victor, [...]

Resources for Black Gay and Lesbian Writers

The Damaged Good, G. Winston James

PUBLISHERS

Redbone Press (Specifically seeks out Black gay and lesbian writers)
Cleis Press (Largest LGBT small press)
Strebor (Author Zane’s imprint with Simon & Schuster)
Alyson Books (Largest LGBT press)
Vintage Entity Press (Small chapbook press with an impressive collection of Black gay and lesbian authors)
Tugson Press (Very small Black and Gay publisher found [...]

everything sounds like confrontation (today)

the screen on my cell phone is cracked. i can’t tell who’s calling until i flip it open. his name pops up. “happy birthday,” i say. “thanks,” he says. “how was your weekend?” the way he says thanks is a question itself. i have wanted to tell him on some many different days that i [...]

3 new query letters or my vision board sucks

I read “The Secret” about a year ago. In Secret, the author suggests that the secret to everything you want in life can be yours and the way to get it is to change your mind. Or change the way you see yourself.
Spend yourself, not the spoon.
If you think you’re a writer you will be [...]

When does the editing process stop

I think getting rejected by literary agents has made me a better writer.
My first rejection came two years ago. I was waiting on my editor to send me his inked up thoughts on the last five chapters. I had the publishing bug. I couldn’t wait any longer. I wanted to be published no matter what [...]

snapshots of an unpublished life

tuesday
9:30am
my cell phone rings. it’s birthday boy. i look at his name. i reach to press the talk button and stop myself. i’m not answering his calls. i’ll call him tomorrow. birthday boy said we’d hang out saturday when we talked on wednesday. we talked on thursday and friday. saturday-nothing. sunday-nothing. he called monday twice. [...]