Red Dirt Revival Introduction by: Ayanna U'DOngo

back to the top Introduction: By Ayanna U’Dongo As we travel this world seemingly alone and sometimes lost…barely breathing above raging waves of despair, an extraordinary being appears. In that moment, however long or minute, they bring you clarity, love, hope and guidance. Tim’m West has been that presence in my life, a force of nature—calmly defiant, street-smart and rural-wise. He’s a thick, Black yam, deep-fried Lower Arkansas style; ripened through adversity, dreams and sheer determination. He is a free spirit, a contemplator of his place in this world. He is the midwife whose urban chantings give birth to transformation and healing; calling us to re-think, self-reflect, feel the real. He is a verbal alchemist, a barrytoned siren who sings us into tranquilo silence. He is a ravenous scholar, a nationally recognized Homo Hop MC (AKA 25percenter), an HIV activist, freedom fighter and revolutionary poet. He’s a masculinity chameleon, a genderbusta, an uncomplicated seductress. He’s got school-boy and banji realness down and Queernation folks lookin’ up. When he requested that I be an editor of this book, I was shocked and deeply honored. As a lover of books and a wanna-be writer, I secretly felt inadequate of such a charge…then I read his life. Each line of his poems, letters and essays revealed layers of a Tim’m I had not known before. To see how he has transcended intense moments of pain, depression, and rejection filled me with enormous courage—he is the bravest person I’ve ever known. He is my friend….my sistuh-spirit. Between these sheets are writhing bodies that testify to the power of defiance, survival and passion. With each encounter these double-jointed spirits breathe fire and air into contained lives. Red Dirt Revival is the celebration of one man’s continuous fight to be born again into "personhood" while seeking unconditional love. As his words reflect his journey, they do not surface from a singular vortex, but are a powerful extremity evolving inside of a collective body--a new generation of voices that speak to the challenges of living in a homophobic, fractured, and frightened society. They speak volumes of tight fits and sheltering shadows while learning to withstand the blisterin’ heat of controversy, ignorance and fear. They are the new Harriet Tubmans, James Baldwins, Cesar Chavezes, Sitting Bulls and Audrey Lordes.

"The Breaths" (Chapter Overview)

back to the top Red Dirt Revival is a living testimony. With these six "Breaths" Tim’m West courageously unveils his world to you. Breath 1: Front Porches these are the formative years of Tim’m’s life, from his rural childhood ("JacksCrossing") to his submersion into domestic violence in "body talk", to the challenges of self-actualization growing up in the rural South. Breath 2: Soul Searchin’ is where he confronts the negative aspects of racism and homophobia in socialized practices within black culture. "Soul Unfinished" is a comment about blackness and "Gaze on Mandingo" is a sampling of how he manipulates academic writing to address subject-position, black masculinity, and liberation. Breath 3: Queer Rhytes deals with rites of passage. "Dear Book" is a comedic yet haunting story of early childhood cognition, "A Letter to Helene Cixous" pays tribute to one of his most influential womyn writers, and "About Radicalia Feminista" and "Jupiter" trouble our uncomplicated notions of gender socialization. Breath 4: Dis/Ease explores life after HIV, "Iffection", "Letter to Mom, "Ceremonies (for Essex)" and "Suicide Journals" are honest entries into Tim’m’s self-discovery after testing positive. Dis/ease for Tim’m marks "opportunity" and his personal sense of Revival. Breath 5: Erotiks is a recollection of fiery passions, broken hearts and quivering possibilities. It’s a testament to the gifts dis/ease can bring. In fact, a more eroticized body and mind is the possibility realized through a self-love that he was, perhaps, not aware of prior to testing Positive. "Quickie" is a piece some consider Tim’m’s signature poem, while "Asskisser" is a defiant thank you to a homophobic father. Breath 6: Dis/Closeur "New Year Revolution, A Ritual Celebrating the Kwanzaa Principle Kuumba (Creativity)", is an open and poignant revelation, a proclamation of self-acceptance, self-love, and promise. As you read Red Dirt Revival—as you breathe with it, draw enough courage and boldness to seek your own truths...fearlessly and with conviction. Ayanna U’Dongo Editor, Red Dirt Revival

Red Dirt Revival Review by: Kia Hayes

back to the top It is like approaching the ceremony where you will become baptized. It is being renewed and validated by the haunting images of ancestors. It is the ebullient voices of kinfolk on Sunday afternoons. It is the tongues of the brothers and sisters who have struggled and sacrificed, reclaiming their language. It is the spirit proclaiming and exalting in life and love beyond the limitations of gender and constructed notions of masculinity. This is the emotion that grows inside me as I enter the world of Tim’m West’s Red Dirt Revival. West is a bold critic of the status quo. He speaks many truths to the complexities of power. As he declares the notion of Black Men loving Black Men as a revolutionary act, he also challenges the limitations of gender in an in depth essay, A letter to Helen Cixous. West writes, "My mutha gave birth to a Toya, my lil’ sista’. I sometimes wonder if I was supposed to be her and she me, or both of us indistinguishable —both with affinities for whatever color boyblue and girlpink make when they consolidate. What color would that be?" In Red Dirt Revival language is used to validate cultural identity. The words of the "folk" who are at family reunions, on street corners, behind academic or prison walls, become a collective voice in the work of Tim’m West. It is the phonetic harmonies that West brings to his poems and observations that has moved me to cry, smile or just sit and think awhile. He signifies, he rhytes, he speaks "blakk" at you and with you, he praises, he religiously creates a lens for us to see the ambiguous and contradictory nature of human classifications. Yah dig? West is an observer of love and human relationships. He expresses the urgency of this human need for a deeper spiritual love of one another, transcending labels and identities that are not easily defined. In "Magnetix" he writes: ‘I have loved black men/ agitated by the thick of it/ guarded like when they anticipate/the sting of a racial slur/or a gender reprimand /for not being a manly enough boy…" Tim’m West is a political thinker, deconstructing how one’s identity determines their fate. In "Pro-Lifer" he says "Metaphors don’t come sweet these days/Cause niggaboys and girls/Are pronounced dead at birth". I feel in Red Dirt Revival, we are being asked to challenge and praise the blakkness in ourselves. We are being pushed to inwardly examine our concepts of queerness, femininity, and masculinity. And what does love got to do with it? It is through his words that Tim’m West allows us entrance into our own revivals. We are given permission to feel the pain, joy, and bewilderment from our shared existence, and our individual lives. Kia Hayes San Francisco, CA May, 2002 back to the top

WHERE TO BUY RED DIRT REVIVAL (STORE LOCATIONS)

Listed Alphabetically City,State Atlanta, GA Baltimore, MD Berkeley, CA Chicago, IL Dallas, TX Durham, NC Little Rock, AR Los Angeles, CA New Orleans, LA New York City, NY Norfolk, VA Oakland, CA Phoenix, AZ Princeton,NJ Raleigh, NC Rehoboth Beach, DE San Francisco, CA   Washington, DC   Atlanta, GA Outwrite Bookstore and Coffeehouse 991 Piedmont Avenue Atlanta, GA  30309 (404) 607-0082 www.outwritebooks.com Baltimore, MD Lambda Rising Bookstore 241 West Chase St. Baltimore, MD  21201 (410) 234-0069 www.lambdarising.com Berkeley, CA Revolution Books 2425 Channing Way (crossstreet Telegraph) Berkeley, CA 94704 (510) 848-1196 www.shopinberkeley.com/r/revolutionbooks/ Chicago, IL Afrocentric Bookstore 4655 South King Drive (@ 47th Street Market Place) Chicago, IL  60653 (773) 924-3966   Dallas, TX: Black Images Book Bazaar 230 Wynnewood Village Shop. Ctr. Dallas, TX 75224 214-943-0142 www.blackimages.com Durham, North Carolina: The Know Bookstore 2520 Fayetteville St. Durham, NC 27707 919-682-7223 Toll Free: 877-991-5669 The Gothic Bookshop Duke University Box 90851 (Located at Bryan Center) Durham, NC 27708 Tel: (919) 684-3986 www.gothicbookshop.duke.edu Little Rock, Arkansas: Pyramid Art Books & Frames 500 President Clinton Ave, Suite 110 Little Rock, AR  72201 (501) 372-5824 Los Angeles area: Matais Books Cards & Art 3202 E. Broadway Long Beach, CA 90803 562.434.1180 New Orleans, LA Community Book Center 2523 Bayou Road New Orleans, LA 70119 504-948-7323 New York City/Brooklyn: Bluestockings Books 172 Allen Street New York, NY  10002 http://www.bluestockings.com info@bluestockings.com (212)777-6028 Oscar Wilde Bookshop 15 Christopher Street New York, NY  10014 (212)255-8097 www.lambdarising.com   Norfolk, VA Lamdba Rising Books 322 West 21st Street Norfolk, VA 23517 (757) 626-0969 www.lambdarising.com   Oakland, CA CHANGE MAKERS Books, Gifts & Events for Women 6536 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94609 (2 blocks North of Alcatraz,  4 blocks South of Ashby @ the corner of 66th & Telegraph) ph: 510-655-2405                 fax: 510-655-2408 www.ChangeMakersForWomen.com Princeton, NJ Micawber Books 110 Nassau Street Princeton, NJ (609)921-8454 micawbooks@aol.com Princeton University Store 36 University Place Princeton, NJ  08540 Phone: 609-921-8500 www.pustore.com Phoenix, AZ Changing Hands 6428 S McClintock Dr Tempe, AZ 85283 480-730-0205 www.changinghands.com Raleigh, North Carolina White Rabbit Books 309 West Martin Street Raleigh, NC 27601 919-856-1429 www.whiterabbitbooks.com Rehoboth Beach, DE 39 Baltimore Avenue Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971 (302) 227 - 6969 www.lambdarising.com   San Francisco, California City Lights Books 261 Columbus Avenue. San Francisco, CA  94133 (415) 362-8193 www.citylights.com Modern Times Bookstore 888 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 Phone: 415-282-9246 www.moderntimesbookstore.com Washington, D.C. Lambda Rising Bookstore 1625 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington, D.C.  20009 (202) 462-6969 www.lambdarising.com Madd T's Music Box 2009 14th St. NW Washington, DC (202) 328-1456 www.madtmusic.com   Melody Record Shop, Inc. 1623 Connecticut Ave NW Washington, DC 20009 202-232-4002 www.melodyrecords.com back to the top

RETAILER CONTACT INFORMATION

Bookstores, libraries, and other vendors interested in ordering "Red Dirt Revival" and other Red Dirt Publishing books should send requests to: Tim'm T. West Red Dirt Publishing P.O. Box 15798 Washington, DC   20003 publishing@reddirt.biz