Friday, February 23, 2018

Authorlight: Juniper Leaves by Jaz Joyner





By: Jaz Joyner

Author: Jaz Joyner
Publisher: Black Pansy Books
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Length: 248
Release Date: OUT NOW (Ebook & Paperback)
ISBN: 978-0999538616
Synopsis:  Kinky-haired blerd Juniper Bray used to believe in magic, until she lost her best friend: her grandmother. Now this 15-year-old shy girl is headed to her father’s research trip on a farm hundreds of miles away, with a family she barely knows and the opposite of a best friend, her new arch nemesis, Bree Mckinney. As if she wasn’t miserable enough. Little does she know the next few months Juniper will discover magical powers she never knew she had, get a crush on a girl she never knew she’d like and well, quite frankly, save the world. Juniper Leaves is a fantastical coming-of-age tale of a girl who learns to let go, live a little, and best of all, believe in herself — all before her sixteenth birthday.


Jaz Joyner is a black trans essayist, humorist and author residing in Brooklyn, NY. Their work has been featured in Teen Vogue, Afropunk, The Establishment, and others. One of Jaz's essays is featured in the LGBT anthology Outside the XY: Queer, Black and Brown Masculinity. Huffington Post Queer Voices interviewed Jaz to talk about their non binary identity as a person of color and experience as a writer. Most recently they've become a regular on the hit YouTube discussion show TheGrapevine. In 2016, Jaz started their passion project, a humor site called QUNTFRONT with the goal of uplifting QTPoC voices in comedy.  Follow Jaz Joyner on Twitter: @JazJoyner.  Visit Jaz Joyner's website by clicking HERE.

Saturday, February 17, 2018

#ReadSoulLit Poetry Readings

#ReadSoulLit

Hosted by: Brown Girl Reading @ http://bit.ly/2lYNoZu

#ReadSoulLit reading Toni Morrison's Tar Baby.  Goodreads Group: http://bit.ly/2mVOoAC



"Heartbeats"

Melvin Dixon, 1950 - 1992

Work out. Ten laps.
Chin ups. Look good.

Steam room. Dress warm.
Call home. Fresh air.

Eat right. Rest well.
Sweetheart. Safe sex.

Sore throat. Long flu.
Hard nodes. Beware.

Test blood. Count cells.
Reds thin. Whites low.

Dress warm. Eat well.
Short breath. Fatigue.

Night sweats. Dry cough.
Loose stools. Weight loss.

Get mad. Fight back.
Call home. Rest well.

Don’t cry. Take charge.
No sex. Eat right.

Call home. Talk slow.
Chin up. No air.

Arms wide. Nodes hard.
Cough dry. Hold on.

Mouth wide. Drink this.
Breathe in. Breathe out.

No air. Breathe in.
Breathe in. No air.

Black out. White rooms.
Head hot. Feet cold.

No work. Eat right.
CAT scan. Chin up.

Breathe in. Breathe out.
No air. No air.

Thin blood. Sore lungs.
Mouth dry. Mind gone.

Six months? Three weeks?
Can’t eat. No air.

Today? Tonight?
It waits. For me.

Sweet heart. Don’t stop.
Breathe in. Breathe out.



"Coal"

BY Audre Lorde, 1934-1992

I
Is the total black, being spoken
From the earth's inside.
There are many kinds of open.
How a diamond comes into a knot of flame   
How a sound comes into a word, coloured   
By who pays what for speaking.

Some words are open
Like a diamond on glass windows
Singing out within the crash of passing sun
Then there are words like stapled wagers
In a perforated book—buy and sign and tear apart—
And come whatever wills all chances
The stub remains
An ill-pulled tooth with a ragged edge.
Some words live in my throat
Breeding like adders. Others know sun
Seeking like gypsies over my tongue
To explode through my lips
Like young sparrows bursting from shell.
Some words
Bedevil me.

Love is a word another kind of open—
As a diamond comes into a knot of flame
I am black because I come from the earth's inside   
Take my word for jewel in your open light.

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