Dark Eros : Black Erotic Writings

by Martin, Reginald , Ph.D.; Reed, Ishmael; Moore, Lenard

• ISBN13: 9780312198503
• ISBN10: 0312198507
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-01-15
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Summary

The overwhelming power of the erotic imagination is brought to full flower in this masterful collection of African-American writings. With pieces from more than seventy writers, Dark Eros explores the erotic possibilities as imagined and reported by authors both well-known and emerging. Using the literary to trace the range of the erotic impulse, this collection of writers and writings-poetry, fiction, and essays-covers the length and breadth of styles and emotions in contemporary African-American writing. As editor Reginald Martin notes, "The pieces collected in this volume throb with the tempo and tenor of writers who have defined the erotic verve of our urban times. Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, New Orleans-every place there is a bus line or dance club has produced African-American eroticism..." The result is a volume that is both compelling and necessary-an exploration of the African-American through the erotic.

Author Biography

Lenard D. Moore, the most acclaimed African-American haiku writer of the twentieth century was born in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. degree from Shaw University. Moore is a poet, playwright, essayist, book reviewer, and fiction writer. While he is best known for his book Forever Home, he is also the author of Desert Storm: A Brief History. He is the founder and executive director of the Carolina African-American Writer's Collective and is the founding publishing editor of Earlobe.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Introduction: Dark Eros and the Erotic Essence
Kitchen Tails	p. 5
Sunday and Ms. Fantasy	p. 7
I Want to Speak	p. 13
Valentine's Day	p. 15
No Turn on Red	p. 19
Black Sugar	p. 21
Midnight Call	p. 23
Binghampton Bad Boy Blues (excerpt)	p. 25
... To the Head	p. 27
in the dreams of a former whore goddess	p. 31
C:\Back Slash\Merge	p. 33
Gail and John	p. 35
Black Love	p. 37
Hunger	p. 41
Untitled	p. 43
Do Ya Got Some Blow?	p. 45
Electric Lover	p. 47
coffles: a suicide note	p. 49
Marriage	p. 51
Dessert	p. 53
Orgasm Notes	p. 59
Mr. Goodbar	p. 60
Pain and Pleasure (Parts I-IV)	p. 61
No Raincoats Allowed	p. 69
Head	p. 71
Ed's Gumbo #3	p. 73
Fear's a Bitch	p. 75
Hurt Me	p. 77
My Best Fucking Friend	p. 79
Forbidden Fruit	p. 81
The Film Teacher	p. 83
Oral	p. 103
Ode to My Sweet Sexy Brown	p. 105
Serious	p. 107
let's be discreet	p. 109
soyons discrets (French translation)	p. 110
Woman on a Bus	p. 115
The Thing	p. 117
My ... (a street-corner sighting)	p. 121
Shrimp Etouffee	p. 123
Caught	p. 125
Tuesday Supper	p. 127
Do Right Women: Black Women, Eroticism, and Classic Blues	p. 129
A Bit More	p. 151
a reenactment of a real love poem	p. 157
Euphoria	p. 161
Haiku (untitled)	p. 163
Passion in Paris	p. 165
man	p. 169
lotion	p. 171
thinking 'bout you	p. 175
soon, again	p. 177
answering machine	p. 179
Untitled	p. 185
will always	p. 187
Polish My Pearl (excerpt)	p. 189
Pussy Ann Trouble	p. 199
Forty-five Is Not So Old	p. 201
All the Things You Are (excerpt)	p. 209
Train Me	p. 223
Merging	p. 225
Wind in the Cane (Parts III and IV)	p. 227
Blaspheme!	p. 229
Gentle Raindrops	p. 235
Dreamwork/Eros Sections	p. 237
Red Lights	p. 239
Nzinga Astral Travels	p. 241
Marrow	p. 243
Hands	p. 245
sweetness	p. 247
Winnefred's Mother	p. 249
Profile This	p. 257
timed	p. 261
His Side	p. 263
Cherry Blessings	p. 267
Teenager's Bedroom	p. 269
The Assistant	p. 271
Sugar	p. 273
Cutting	p. 275
So Close to Hell	p. 281
Tout Proche de L'enfer (French translation)	p. 282
Conversion: A Most Religious Experience	p. 283
Haiku #131	p. 289
Haiku #135	p. 289
Dirty Diana (excerpt)	p. 291
these nights are not important	p. 295
The Wandering Lover	p. 297
Monica	p. 299
Circle of One	p. 303
Living in a Memory	p. 305
Miss Rose	p. 307
In the House	p. 309
Intimate Times	p. 311
These Bodies	p. 313
SweatBurns	p. 317
Acid Black	p. 319
Celibacy	p. 335
Dear Lord, I Lift the Covers	p. 337
Why I Play with My Cunt	p. 343
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements	p. 345
Communion	p. 351
The Ballad of Sadie LaBabe	p. 353
Malkai's Last Seduction	p. 357
Untitled	p. 367
Chastity	p. 369
Seduction	p. 371
The Writer	p. 373
Encountering Ecstasy	p. 375
Butterfly	p. 377
The Flower	p. 379
I Long	p. 381
surrogate lovers	p. 383
Cajunto Sabor	p. 385
A Reminiscence	p. 387
Afterword: New Tales, New Blackness: Constructing the Whole Self Through Eroticism	p. 389
About the Authors	p. 393
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.