Gospel
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Synopsis:
"Gospel, like all good preaching, is both deftly reflective and full of rafter-rattling truths. In a voice stamped with her definitive, soul-drenched signature, Samiya Bashir blesses us with a roadmap for the living of our fractured and uprooted lives, forcing us to take an unflinching look at faith and the way it's defined. This is a grandmama-braiding-the-hair book, a rev-ripping-up-the-pulpit book, a book you'll constantly come back to for both beauty and guidance." —Patricia Smith, author of Blood Dazler
Book Excerpt:
*On summer evenings*
When I do
I picture you
filleted and grilled
a dusting of olive
oil peeled ginger
and leeks. Seasons.
I look at you
see skin and char
smoldering scars
as script. Constellations
shimmer and smoke. My love,
bid me singe with you. I’ll sing.
Topics/Categories:
african, Black, Faith, Fear, gay, Lesbian, Literature, Love, peotry, poem, ritual
Genre:
Type of Work:
Original Publish Date:
March 20, 2009
Publishing Notes:
Gospel is an ecumenical resistance song in four parts. We enter at the crossroads, tripped up by trickster deity Eshu-Elegba. A chorus of crows, led by Norse god Odin’s raven messengers Hugin & Munin, guides us into each movement. In this passionate follow-up to 2005’s Lambda Literary Award finalist, Where the Apple Falls, Bashir’s poems challenge truth to stare down the power of fear and paralysis. “We intended gospel to strike a happy medium for the down-trodden,” said gospel music pioneer Thomas Dorsey. “This music lifted people out of the muck and mire of poverty and loneliness, of being broke, and gave them some kind of hope anyway. Make it anything but good news, it ceases to be gospel.” The good news, according to Bashir, is that we are neither alone in our mess, nor alone in our grasp of the tools to heal. In this pull-no-punches collection Bashir lays down a road map, a portable flashlight, and a shaky-legged escort to usher the way toward recovered sight and strength.
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