Let’s talk about the book Homie, which you revealed in a surprise Shonda Rhimes–esque plot twist is really named My Nig. What’s it like to publicly discuss sex as an HIV-positive person? It came to me at the right time, and I love it fiercely. Here we go.
Can you describe your journey and how you came to tell your story in such a beautiful and raw way? Danez Smith on Poetry as Purpose, Thriving with HIV, and Blackness as Home, Read An Excerpt of New Activist Picture Book "Rad Women Worldwide", Morgan Parker’s New Collection Is a Complex Tribute to Black Women. I’m 30. That said, I won’t discuss all of them. And if there are other things about me that make my life public, I semi-wanna be a sex siren, political, or interesting in some type of way.
PANK fosters access to emerging and experimental poetry and prose, publishing the brightest and most promising writers for the most adventurous readers. Who has it?
Homie, which is the title of this book only for the uninitiated, is a celebratory dance, a slap in the face of complacency, and an invitation to a revolution.
I feel sexy. Not to speculate upon your death is to actually have a possibility that the thing now within you has killed the you [of] before. Not to say that everyone isn’t allowed to see this [book] as they need; the people who I refer to as “my nigga” in the collection are not always Black folks.
Help make more pieces like this possible by joining Bitch Media’s membership program, The Rage. I didn’t necessarily think about it as my work right away, but I was doing a lot of journaling and a lot of writing. We’re thinking through some of the complications of the word “nigga” and how that bridges across other folks. I didn’t feel like I was going to live for so long. I was raised by Black people, loved by Black people, moved by Black people, hurt by Black people. Why was it important to not give power to folks who aren’t Black to use the term “my nig”? They are here to say things that matter, to scream How do you get it? A lot of [my] work is [about] denying the fallacy that the imagined reader is always white from the start; that’s what Homie is supposed to be. This is an elegant collection rocking short shorts; a fun read that’s extremely serious. It’s been shocking to me how many folks come up to me after readings and say, “I’ve never told anybody I was positive.
Blackness is home for me, and I feel different in a room full of Black people than I do in a room full of other people. That’s over half my life now. [The collection] shrank a little bit; at one point, I was like, look, [this book is] very much about that, but it shifted somewhat to these remnants that are trying to signal who the book is for in some not-so-quiet ways. Sign up for the Weekly Reader: I often think about the different ways that Black queer people choose to tell our stories, whether it’s through an op-ed, a documentary, or photography. Sex is a beautiful, important, and huge thing in all of our lives that’s definitely a highlight of my work. hands, dry and stretch their skins, build the drums, call everyone together for It’s one of the best tools for distilling down the essence of what the human experience is. Danez Smith doesn’t just dance to the The first one is “dogs!,” a strange crowning jewel that contains the taste of many of the cohesive elements that make this collection read like a whole: anger, humor, rhythm, and a message that’s stretched on top of the words like a cat, waiting for you to acknowledge it, to recognize its existence. I love theater. How would you do it differently?” I just said, I knew [about PrEP], but it was more of a rumor back then. There isn’t a single throwaway poem in Homie. Can you walk me through your genius decision to do that? Can you walk me through your genius decision to do that? As far as Blackness, I like my whole life now; it took 30 years worth of shit. I write for my family and my friends, and I write for poets who excite me, who tend to write like me. I thought for so long after [my diagnosis that] I would be alone for the rest of my life. In that regard, I guess some readers could find the language shocking. There was a q&a I participated in and this one woman asked a question that was riddled with stigma. I’ve been publicly HIV-positive for more than five years, and a lot of my work still references the epidemic, the state of HIV now, and its future. As much as art becomes our careers and our life’s work, for me, [art is] still how we process and release stress from time to time. Let’s talk about the book Homie, which you revealed in a surprise Shonda Rhimes–esque plot twist is really named My Nig. Here is one I had to share on Twitter: Here’s one that comes later and slices through our times all the way to the marrow to expose one of those problems that live at the core of this country like an intractable cancer: Danez’s is the kind of in-your-face It lays the foundation for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before.” For Danez Smith, poetry has been the bones, skin, melanin, and water of the Black aesthetic. I don’t fucking know. Understanding the diasporas of my homies; it’s the lens that I wish to see the world [through]. These intersections—Blackness, queerness, and being HIV-positive—are all parts of an existence that many Black queer people suffer under, the multiple systems of oppression often creating the impossibility of surviving or sustaining a feasible quality of life. No one does it quite like Danez Smith. The problem I had with Don’t Call Us Dead is the Danez character who [exists] in that book is very much still living within the shock of diagnosis and what it meant to touch mortality in that way. It’s also a superb collection of poetry from one of the most interesting and unique voices in contemporary literature. He is the book review editor for PANK Magazine and a columnist at LitReactor. I’ve been following you on social media.
Poetry has helped me make sense of diagnosis, this new look at my mortality and my body, and eventually, that became the foundation of my last book, Don’t Call Us Dead. I love Black people deeply. What else is there? Danez Smith doesn’t just dance to the beat of their own drum; they slaughter magical animals of oppression with their hands, dry and stretch their skins, build the drums, call everyone together for a party, and then play the drums while dancing in a house built of words that can withstand a hurricane, the weight of history and racism, and a collection of memories best forgotten. My mama said I was. [Writing that book] gave me a lot of models for HIV work that call it “thriving despite.” I hate the word “despite” right there. I haven’t always liked my body, but I like it right now, so I like showing it off. Homie is timely, powerful, and honest. But I’ve been a poet for so damn long, I don’t remember my life without it. Get Bitch Media's top 9 reads of the week delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning! I didn’t want my book [to have the title] My Nig without that half-step of Homie and an author’s page that’s an invitation to community.
I think I owe it to my readers to do the same. Can you just talk a little bit about your sexuality? In fact, Smith does more than that: they make us their friend, especially those of us who, as people of color, have faced a different set of struggles. The second half of that book weighs heavily on my HIV diagnosis. There does seem to be this disconnect between a lot of queer artists, especially Black queer folks, and our ancestors who died off in the 1980s and ’90s and left us with these books, poems, and ballads. When I became poz, [there] was [never] really a question [about] if I was going to write about it and be up front about it. Poems just took off in a particular way, both [as] a career and my passion. On a different day in high school, maybe it could’ve been nonfiction and maybe I could’ve been writing novels. Can you talk about your experience as a Black queer HIV-positive poet and the importance of showcasing the totality of who you are? Yes, there are words here most people wouldn’t say/shouldn’t say, but “this ain’t about language/but who language holds.” Danez is in your face about these things because ignoring them is not how we make them better, how we bring people together, how we shine a light on racism, homophobia, and injustice. can withstand a hurricane, the weight of history and racism, and a collection Come on, now! I would like to say that. about injustice: And this is Danez’s book, so they say whatever they want to say. Through their works, including 2014’s [insert] boy, 2017’s award-winning Don’t Call Us Dead, and January 2020’s Homie, Smith has intentionally crafted a portrait of the Black existence that centers our narrative outside of the white gaze. When I became poz, so much of my writing was about doing away with shame. He is the author of Zero Saints and Coyote Songs. GABINO IGLESIAS is a writer, journalist and book reviewer living in Austin, Texas. In her 1985 essay “Poetry Is Not a Luxury,” self-described Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet Audre Lorde wrote, “Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. We know that one in two Black men who have sex with men will contract the HIV virus in their lifetime. I have been very vocal from jump because I’ve always missed those ancestors who I’ll never know, all the people—Assanto, Saint, Essex Hemphill—the poem mentions. You’ll get exclusive perks and members-only swag, all while supporting Bitch’s critical feminist analysis. HIV did leave a gap in a lot of ways, and we have folks talking about surviving that experience.
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