There is a new cover on a timeless milestone of verse and commentary, a book called Ceremonies, written by poet, writer, performance artist and activist Essex Charles Hemphill. It is so unfortunate that the community has lost such an eloquent, strong and poignant voice that spoke for the African-American LGBT community on AIDS. We are left with a rich legacy of his work with the book Ceremonies.
Hailed as one of the most prolific writers of his time, Essex Hemphill was often lauded to the likes of James Baldwin, another trailblazer and member of the Black gay literati from the Harlem Renaissance circa. Prior to writing Ceremonies, Hemphill had self-published three chapbooks and a book-length collection of work, Conditions (1986). You may have also heard his work in the films, Lookin’ for Langston, Tongues Untied and Black Is Black Ain’t.
Hemphill received national prominence when his work appeared in the landmark book In The Life (1986) edited by Joseph F. Beam, Allyson Publications. It was the first book of its kind; it anthologized writings of Black gay men from all over the United States. Beam, who had AIDS and wrote periodically for Outlines, died in 1988 before releasing Brother to Brother, his impassioned follow-up to In The Life. His friend Essex Hemphill completed the unfinished work after Beam’s death. As editor, Hemphill won a 1992 Lambda Book Award. Hemphill dedicated a poem to Beam titled “When My Brother Fell.”
In 1992, Hemphill released Ceremonies, earning him the National Library Association’s Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual New Author in Poetry Award in 1993. The original cover of the book featured Essex and Larry Duckette, his business partner and companion of 10 years, in the arts, embracing each other, showing love, the only way that two men of African decent can show one another. The new 2000 cover has the picture of a strong Black brotha with an outstretched arm looking into the heavens. Once you’ve opened the book and if you’ve had the pleasure of experiencing the verse of Hemphill, you easily become immersed within the text, it’s like old wine in a new bottle.
For those who haven’t read the work of Essex Hemphill, you’ll have a wonderful history of the culture of the African-American LGBT community. If you’re searching for clarity, you will find a variety of issues and concerns addressed, from AIDS in the African-American community or racism among white gay artists, to addressing love between men or sex among strangers. You will see that Hemphill respected and honored the Black woman. He also isn’t afraid to point a finger at anyone with his words. Hemphill’s work transcends the lines of sexual identification with poems and commentary that have strong feminist flavors flowing through them such as “Heavy Breathin.”
That excerpt from “Heavy Breathing” was inspired by the true story of Mrs. Catherine Fuller, a 48-year-old grandmother murdered in the nation’s capitol, Washington, D.C. He was truly before his time yet he caught the essence of a people, their pains, pleasures, sorrows and successes and put it on paper to share with the world. We are also able to see some of the scars of a proud same-gender-loving HIV+ man of African decent. The messages that are layered upon one another are timeless.
Some of my favorite selections from the book include an essay titled “Without Comment.” Hemphill gives a bit of history and humor when one of the characters on a bus ride through an all-Black neighborhood and one man is confronting another, and uses a series of snaps after several one liners. Hemphill ALSO deals with issues of coming out to family. “Miss Emily’s Grandson Won’t Hush His Mouth” is an autobiographical essay in which he wrote about an experience where he was first gaining momentum with his career and has to keep his sexual identity secret from his grandmother to respect his mother’s wishes. Hemphill wrote:
“I promised to maintain my silence regarding my sexuality. My mother later told me, ‘Your grandmother always kept you up in prayer,’ and I always felt like telling mother, ‘I think it’s because she knew I was gay.'”
Still another essay reveals the activist side of Hemphill with his critique of Dr. Frances Cress Wesling’s book The Politics Behind Black Male Passivity, Effeminization, Bisexuality, and Homosexuality. His critique is called If Freud Had Been a Neurotic Colored Woman: Reading Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, is a wonderful read and unravels the homophobic, and heterosexist ideology that has scarred many of our people who love the same gender, or question their gender identity. He opens the essay with quotes from bell hooks and Cheryl Clark.
The poem “Civil Servant,” dedicated to Nurse Eunice Rivers, who worked with the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, is a haunting must read. This was before HBO burned the envelope with the movie. “Now We Think” is a poem that deals with the repercussions of anonymous sex. “American Wedding” is about a seductive yet sensual ceremony where cock rings are used to celebrate the love between two men; remember this was before we gathered in numbers to lobby for domestic partnership.
You owe it to yourself to purchase this book. It is a great read and a powerful book of the history of the early Black lesbian and gay movement. Hemphill captures the essence of the wonderful culture of the African-American LGBT community.
“I speak for the thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of men who live and die in the shadows of secrets, unable to speak of the love that helps them endure and contribute to the race” is from the essay “Loyalty.”
Gaylord is a member of A Real Read, and a columnist for BLACKlines.
“When my brother fell
I picked up his weapons.
I didn’t question
Whether I could aim
Or be as precise as he.
A needle and thread
Were not among
His things I found.”
— Essex Hemphill
There is never any protest.
No peer restraint. No control.
No one hollered STOP!
for Mrs. Fuller,
a Black mother murdered
in an alley near her home.
Her rectum viciously raped
with a pipe.
Repeatedly
Sodomized repeatedly
sodomized before a crowd
that did not holler STOP!
Some of those watching knew her.
Knew her children.
Knew she was a member of the block.
Every participant was Black.
Every witness was Black.
Some were female and Black