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Book review: We are flowers, an anthology of queer art


Althena

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I started reading this anthology after Calla posted excerpts from Nzeogwu titled Black Testosterone. The way this person describes men, black men, famous black men, it had me salivating even though I consider myself 110% lesbian. That was just how good his words are.

It is 2004 or 2005 when I first see Idris: a huge dark-skinned man whose presence means gravity, whose arms are as huge and capable, who is sitting on a chair, sadness in his eyes. I first see Idris in Sometimes in April.Then, I do not know his name, only that he makes me want to urinate, makes me need to use my small prick. I am a child but my imagination is already riotous. It is 2011 when I know who he is, when I ask Google because his name is the LCM of Sexiest Black Men lists. In Pacific Rim, he keeps me holding my heart and my groin. In Beasts of No Nation, he makes me want to tear off my clothes and run through the bloody, green forests and offer myself on his bed, legs torn wide. The testosterone. Too much. Oozing. Gushing. Flushing. Rousing. Arousing. He is the only man I Google every other day. FYI: I Google more women than men, some women daily—Rihanna, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Cate Blanchett, and at least once a week: Genevieve Nnaji.

This story delivers and by God, so does the rest of the book! I read it feeling like these are conversations I would have with my family, could have had with my colleagues, have definitely had with my friends. It is strong, sometimes raw, other times funny, many times heartbreaking, but always real. The stories are of you and I and very believable. Sometimes, it is like looking at one's self in a mirror.

I started reading it on a Friday and finished it by the weekend. It was addictive. Like the story of ICE who meets Funmi on a BRT bus from Ketu to TBS (Funmi, are you on NL, come and gist us more!!!) or the funny parts of The Girl Next Door where Tandra tries to kiss Salimah in from of her mother, the chilling story of Pink Panther where a police man tried to set him up from an online dating app (these boys and Grindr no dey learn sha) and the heart stopping moment in Romeo's poem when his father asked him what it means to be bisexual (yekpa!). The book just has so much to offer, and that is before you get to the gorgeous artwork nestles like a surprise between some pages. Anyhooo....the book is amazeballs.

 

So amazeballs that when I was finished, it left me feeling warm, but also regretful. I thought, I should have read this slower, I should have dragged this on, savored it more...

I would encourage you to download it and read it. Let's discuss the funny, the 'hell yeah' and the awwwwww in it.

http://brittlepaper.com/2017/01/14-anthology-queer-art-vol-1-flowers/ or http://brittlepaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/14-AN-ANTHOLOGY-OF-QUEER-ART-WE-ARE-FLOWERS-1.pdf

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Hahahaha. I will have to come back to this mehn. Lol. Currently overwhelmed with tons of paperwork.

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Yes, I loved the ICE story! One can totally relate to those experiences. My jaw dropped at the Police guy's case. I had no idea the story was going towards that lane. Thought it was going to be one vivid l, hot sexual escapade kind of story. The guy get luck bad.

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I loved the ice story, especially her confidence and her mental strength. Not many people can walk away from that offer...

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Similar thoughts from here.

" Celebrating we are flowers : the anthology" was a thread I prepared to start mid Q1 of 2017, it turned out to be a very busy period.

Yet, this thread works out that intent properly; where we recount, share and capture the individually different stopping - moments from that anthology.

 

It was a very popular first, be part of this coming second...

Cheers.

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  • 1 month later...

That was just how good his words are.

 

 

And it's impossible to anticipate him. Words flowing in great torrents. Nothing stilted or contrived. I've rarely read anything so graphic, so convincing. I could almost see him engage in a passionate wrestling match with "Idris", one he'd always win. And the second paragraph :o/>/>/>/> ..that gave me quite a turn!!

 

Bloke is a miracle of our time. An original. A marvelous, marvelous original. Acerbic wit, delightfully spontaneous. If he's real, I want to meet him. And if he publishes a book, I'd happily give up 10 shillings to own one!

 

"Fizzled" by ICE didn't do much for me. Thought it was bland. Though the prose style was quite vivid, it was all too familiar...(nothing really spectacular or peculiar to make a girl happy). I didn't read the rest.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Excerpts From 'Girl next door'

By Salima Valliani

 

“Do you like sleeping with women?”

“I do,” I said, feeling simultaneously stripped and dazzled by Tandra’s boldness.

“I would really like to make breakfast for you.”

In my country that meant a lot more than breakfast, considering it was only about 10p.m.

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"I really wish you had come for breakfast,” Tandra said.

 

I thought about a new way of approaching the subject.

 

“Yaaaah, but I hate rushing.”

 

“And what else do you hate?” probed Tandra, making the best of my candidness.

 

“I hate chains.”

 

“Ah yes, but everyone hates chains.”

 

“Yes, but people like putting chains on others.”

 

“I hate pain,” offered Tandra.

 

“Oh pain, I can handle pain,” I replied.

 

“Do you like penetration?”

 

“I do,” I replied, with my flashiest smile. What could one do with such bluntness but match it? Tandra flashed a smile back and the conversation drifted..

 

- Girl next door, Salima Valliani.

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And then, that afternoon, he called. I answered his call, already bursting with profuse Apologies and promises that I’d surely make the next date. But he coolly brushed aside my words and said, “I’m beginning to suspect that you already know...”

 

Already know what?

 

“That I’m not really gay. That I’m actually a policeman, and my mission on the dating site is to catch stupid gays like you and make sure you go to prison.”

 

I froze where I was. My eyes widened with shock and my mind silently screamed, What?

 

“You’re very lucky,” he continued. “All this time you kept on posting me and posting me, I began to think that you already suspect who I am. At a point, I discussed the operation with my wife, and she told me to just let you be. She said it wasn’t worth it, and I finally agreed. So count yourself very lucky, young man. I would say God is truly watching over you, but I know God hates your kind. I’m telling you all this because I’m crossing you off my list. Goodbye, and stay away from trouble.”

 

 

'After the law was passed'

 

-PinkPanther

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