Red Dirt Revival: A Poetic Memoir in 6 Breaths

by Tim'm T. West

It is like approaching the ceremony where you will become baptized. It is being renewed and validated by the haunting images of ancestors. It is the ebullient voices of kinfolk on Sunday afternoons. It is the tongues of the brothers and sisters who have struggled and sacrificed, reclaiming their language. It is the spirit proclaiming and exalting in life and love beyond the limitations of gender and constructed notions of masculinity. This is the emotion that grows inside me as I enter the world of Tim’m West’s Red Dirt Revival. West is a bold critic of the status quo. He speaks many truths to the complexities of power. As he declares the notion of Black Men loving Black Men as a revolutionary act, he also challenges the limitations of gender in an in depth essay, A letter to Helen Cixous. West writes, "My mutha gave birth to a Toya, my lil’ sista’. I sometimes wonder if I was supposed to be her and she me, or both of us indistinguishable —both with affinities for whatever color boyblue and girlpink make when they consolidate. What color would that be?" In Red Dirt Revival language is used to validate cultural identity. The words of the "folk" who are at family reunions, on street corners, behind academic or prison walls, become a collective voice in the work of Tim’m West. It is the phonetic harmonies that West brings to his poems and observations that has moved me to cry, smile or just sit and think awhile. He signifies, he rhytes, he speaks "blakk" at you and with you, he praises, he religiously creates a lens for us to see the ambiguous and contradictory nature of human classifications. Yah dig? West is an observer of love and human relationships. He expresses the urgency of this human need for a deeper spiritual love of one another, transcending labels and identities that are not easily defined. In "Magnetix" he ‘I have loved black men/ agitated by the thick of it/ guarded like when they anticipate/the sting of a racial slur/or a gender reprimand /for not being a manly enough boy…" Tim’m West is a political thinker, deconstructing how one’s identity determines their fate. In "Pro-Lifer" he says "Metaphors don’t come sweet these days/Cause niggaboys and girls/Are pronounced dead at birth". I feel in Red Dirt Revival, we are being asked to challenge and praise the blakkness in ourselves. We are being pushed to inwardly examine our concepts of queerness, femininity, and masculinity. And what does love got to do with it? It is through his words that Tim’m West allows us entrance into our own revivals. We are given permission to feel the pain, joy, and bewilderment from our shared existence, and our individual lives.

Genres: Poetry, Memoir, Queer

Paperback

First published March 13, 2012

Reviews

[Leo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent introspective, crafted like music and flows as such. Deep, articulate, and steeped in truth, honesty, conviction and humility! Loved it - good read for anyone, no matter what life cycle you're in.