Essex Hemphill Was Not A Fiery Poet

A character in Felice Picano's novel,The Book of Lies (Alyson Books, 1999), which is loosely based on the members of a white gay male literary group called the Violet Quill*, states that in the 1980s "Essex Hemphill [the late black poet] had come up from DC" to do a reading at the Gay Community Center in New York and that "Essex was still doing his fire and brimstone act." 

The Essex Hemphill I saw at poetry readings in New York and Philadelphia wasn't doing a "fire and brimstone act." Picano's characterization of Essex does him a disservice. It makes Essex sound like some kind of demagogue. That approach would have turned off many black gay men. Instead, his eloquent, healing words boosted the morale and self-esteem of black gay men, thereby making him the foremost black gay poet in America, whose work has been widely anthologized and celebrated.

*Note: Felice Picano was a Violet Quill member.