Afrekete

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The title of this collection of 20 essays, stories and poems is the name of a lover portrayed by Audre Lorde both in the excerpt from Zami that introduces the collection and in the poem that ends it. Both are, first and foremost, works of literature. As the editors say in their introduction, ``identity politics bind and frankly bore us,'' and here beauty, meaning and insight outweigh any given political stance. Even where there is politically charged jargon, such as in Jocelyn Maria Taylor's essay recalling her life as a stripper and her burgeoning political consciousness, it is compensated for by her smart take on the image of the black woman's body. By and large, the selections are encompassing: any African American will understand Alexis De Veaux's painful letter to her light-skinned ``Dear Aunt Nanadine''; any woman will cringe at the story of a back-alley abortion related by Helen Elaine Lee. And any human will be moved by Cynthia Bond's searing tale of abuse and madness. The essays are intelligent, for example Jewelle Gomez's look at her complicated relationships with black men; Linda Villarosa's studied response to blinkered Bible-thumpers who would throw stones; and Evelyn C. White's touching, nostalgic recollection of family life in Gary, Ind., in the '60s and her first realization that her mother was a woman, not just an accessory to child and man. Not every piece is of equal quality, but the majority deserve to be read. (May)

Whitney Scott

Coeditors McKinley and DeLaney select boldly and comprehensively for their gathering of African American lesbians' writings, including long-established writers such as Jacqueline Woodson, Pat Parker, and Jewell Gomez as well as up-and-comers like Sapphire and Michelle Cliff. The late Audre Lorde's riveting "Tar Beach," a memory piece about her eroticism and fulfillment with Kitty, whose other name gives the anthology its title, shows the two women celebrating woman-identified love of themselves and one another as well as the energies and passions of life during a fleeting summer of intensity. Jocelyn Maria Taylor writes of performing stripteases for men in order to raise the cash needed to start a club for lesbians and the conflicting feelings of empowerment and invisibility that stripping gave her. Sharee Nash weaves an intricate net of words when she speaks mesmerizingly of "bizarrely twisted incidents when I allowed myself to be led to some sultry sea of despair." This set of 20 works of fiction, nonfiction, and verse is hard to put down.