"Libido Lit 101": Black Writers Respond To AIDS

"We need to deal with our sexuality, our erotica," says Donald Woods, a black gay poet. "Especially now, because of this [health] crisis."

From that belief sprang "Libido Lit 101," sponsored by Other Countries, a new black gay literary journal scheduled for publication April 15 [1988]. "Libido Lit 101" will take place at the popular discotheque Tracks (531 West 19th Street, at the corner of 11th Avenue in Manhattan) on April 22. This show is what black lesbian poet Audre Lorde calls in her essay "Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power," a "celebration of the erotic in all our endeavors." To Lorde, "the erotic is not a question only of what we do; it is a question of how acutely and fully we can feel in the doing."

The participants, some of the most talented and notable black gay artists, hope to put us (again in Lorde's words) "in touch with the power of the erotic within ourselves" through poetry, prose, and dance. Scheduled to appear are D.C. poet/urban griot Essex Hemphill, whose work has been published, among other places, in the [New York] Native; award-winning science fiction writer Samuel Delany; 21-year-old dancer/choreographer Ron Brown, and poet Assotto Saint. The host of the show will be Joe Simmons, star of the all-black gay erotic video Made in the Shade.

"Libido Lit" 's director, Dennis Green, is aware of the AIDS "paranoia" that has gripped the nation. He feels that "a program that's all about sex, all about erotica and pleasure" is "a very nice thing to have" so long as it's done "in good taste" with "a sense of grace and humor."

"You can be provocative," says Green, "without being obvious. The real fun is suggesting, not stating; saying just enough to let the audience's imagination and sensibility just take off."

This article was originally published in the New York Native (April 25, 1988).