The days of good looks : the prose and poetry of Cheryl Clarke, 1980 to 2005 / [Cheryl Clarke].

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Clarke, Cheryl, 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African Americans--Literary collections.

African Americans.

African American lesbians.

Lesbians--Poetry.

Lesbians.

African American lesbians--Poetry.

African American women--Poetry.

African American women.

Genre:

Literary collections.

Poetry.

Literature.

Physical Description:

xi, 419 pages ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Carroll & Graf Pub., [2006]

Summary:

Lauded by luminaries such as Gwendolyn Brooks, Adrienne Rich, and Joy Harjo, among others, the work of African American lesbian poet Cheryl Clarke has spoken on behalf of the black, feminist and gay movements for more than 25 years. Her writing has earned her distinction as a contemporary black feminist icon in the tradition of June Jordan. In fact, few writers have tackled hot-button issues of race and sexuality with as much force or fearless humor as Clarke. "The Days of Good Looks -- her first new book of poetry in a decade -- collects the author's most popular poems and essays along with an array of new unpublished writing.

Contents:

Part 1 Narratives: 1980-1985

Poems

Of Althea and Flaxie 3

Ruby the runaway 6

Gail 11

The johnny cake 13

Cantaloupe 19

If you black get back 22

Essays

Lesbianism: An Act of Resistance (1981) 25

Black, Brave, and Woman, Too (1982) 43

The Failure to Transform: Homophobia in the Black Community (1983) 61

New Notes on Lesbianism (1983) 81

Part 2 Living as a Lesbian: 1986-1990

14th street was gutted 91

The woman who raised me 92

I come to the city 93

No more encomiums 94

Vicki and Daphne 97

Intimacy no luxury 101

Nothing 102

The change 104

We are everywhere 106

Since my lover left 107

Living as a lesbian underground: a futuristic fantasy 108

An exile I have loved 112

Living as a lesbian on the make 113

Sexual preference 114

Kittatinny 115

Living as a lesbian at 35 117

The Space in Me Where Baldwin Lives (1987) 119

Silence and Invisibility: Costly Metaphors (1989) 123

Saying the Least Said, Telling the Least Told: The Voices of Black Lesbian Writers (1990) 133

Knowing the Danger and Going There Anyway (1990) 145

... She Still Wrote Out the Word Kotex on a Torn Piece of Paper Wrapped Up in a Dollar Bill ... (1990) 155

Part 3 Humid Pitch: 1991-1995

Party pants 191

Bulletin 193

Stuck 195

Sisters Part 198

Ella Takes Up the Slack 200

Kitchen Mechanics Sequence 202

Frances Michael 205

Rabbit 207

High School 215

No Place 219

The Homoerotic Other (1991) 221

The Everyday Life of Black Lesbian Sexuality (1991) 225

Two Rich and Rounding Experiences (1991) 237

Living the Texts Out: Lesbians and the Uses of Black Women's Traditions (1993) 247

Part 4 Experimental Love: 1996-1999

A Great Angel 275

Living as a lesbian underground, ii 276

Greta Garbo 280

Movement 281

Passing 289

Buttons 290

Interlude 291

Rondeau 292

Remember the Voyage 293

Dykes Are Hard 294

Living as a lesbian at 45 295

Najeeb 297

Elegy 298

An old woman muses from her basement 299

A House of Difference: Audre Lorde's Legacy to Lesbian and Gay Writers (1996) 301

Transferences and Confluences: The Impact of the Black Arts Movement on the Literacies of Black Lesbian Feminism (1999) 319

Part 5 The Days of Good Looks: 2000-2005

Living as a lesbian underground fin de siecle 361

Bald Woman 362

Billie Holliday 363

Please Read 364

James dean longing 365

Urban Epitaphs After 9/11/01 367

Dreams of South Africa 368

A Sister's Lament as She Poses for an AP Photograph Holding Her Dead Sister's Portrait 372

The days of good looks 374

Lesbianism, 2000 (2000) 379

Pomo Afro Homo Vexing of Black Macho in the Age of AIDS (2005) 391

The Prong of Permanency, a Rant (2005) 403

Ecstatic Fallacies: The Politics of the Black Storefront (2005) 409.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

0786716754

OCLC:

62873861

Publisher Number:

9780786716753