Consensual Genocide

by Piepzna-Samarasinha, Leah Lakshmi

• ISBN13: 9781894770293
• ISBN10: 1894770293
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-03-20
• Publisher: Mawenzi House Pub

Summary

Poetry. Gay & Lesbian Studies. Asian Studies. This long-awaited first collection of poetry by queer Sri Lankan writer and spoken-word artist Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is full of the stories we've been waiting for. Tracing bloodlines from Sri Lanka's civil wars to Brooklyn and Toronto streets, these fierce poems are full of heart and guts, telling raw truths about brown girl border crossings before and after 9/11, surviving abuse, mixed-race journeys and high femme rebellions. Consensual Genocide celebrates our survival and marks our rebel memories into history. "Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha's words leap off the page--urgent, sumptuous writing that demands, and deserves, a wide audience. I'm listening"--Anna Camilleri.

Table of Contents

Eating a $5 plate of string hoppers, I think of my father	p. 1
A love poem for Sakia Gunn	p. 2
Persistence	p. 3
Landmine heart	p. 5
At the naturopath's	p. 6
Lots of reasons why I loved you	p. 7
Dropping bombs	p. 8
White Australia	p. 9
Dreaming of the garden of eden	p. 11
Tsunami song	p. 13
Fifty years	p. 14
Operation Babylift	p. 16
She asked me what my heart was like	p. 17
Welcome to Slave Island	p. 18
Good burgher girl	p. 19
Mi vida loca, summer 1998	p. 21
Looking back (or why I wasn't a famous artist at 19)	p. 23
Looking back #2/snapshot in color	p. 25
White mama blues	p. 26
Don't fuck anyone you wouldn't want to be	p. 28
Colorslut	p. 30
I am not Ellen Degeneres	p. 31
You play love keep us together ...	p. 32
Happy IWD!	p. 34
So what the fuck does conscious mean anyway	p. 35
This ain't the time	p. 36
Evil bitch 3, the final chapter	p. 37
Inflammatory	p. 39
When Kali and Oya met	p. 40
Crazy girl on red bike	p. 42
Good sistas	p. 43
Mi papi maricon	p. 44
Abortion poem	p. 45
1997-1999	p. 47
Citizenship is something you hold	p. 48
Confrontation day	p. 49
9/11 in seven slams	p. 50
9/11/02	p. 54
Biogenocide	p. 56
How not to be bitter	p. 58
Pretty light skin dream	p. 59
I am a contradiction to your definition	p. 61
Restorative justice	p. 63
I have three photographs	p. 65
Sweet water	p. 68
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.