I am honored to have 2 poems in Volume II of Oye Drum, the sci fi and fantasy issue. About Oye Drum: OyeDrum is a combination of the word Oye, which translates into “Listen Up,” and the word Drum, repurposed by black activist, feminist, performance artist, poet, and secular priestess, Jayne Cortez in response to Duke Ellington’s composition A Drum is a Woman. In her poem If the Drum is a Woman, Cortez personifies the drum into a woman while taking a painful critical look at societal hypocrisy of the treatment and discussion around women, especially women of color, crying out against sexism and violence towards women, while giving solutions in her advisement towards social change in the better treatment of our “drums”:

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Oye Drum

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Thank you to Scott Sweeney at Grey Book Press for publishing my chapbook “The Female Citizens of Sunshine Nation Face off With Light Sucking Demons.” Kick ass cover art by Clementine’s Comics. Link to purchase from Grey Book Press below. If you buy a signed copy from me (e-mail me.) all proceeds will go to the Humanize My Hoodie Project, a group that helps poor youth get jobs, aid the formerly incarcerated, and foster workshops on how to be a good ally and start conversations about racial bias. XO

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