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”:

Jennifer is a writer who currently lives in Iowa City, Iowa. She is interested in writing poetry, reading poetry, walking in the woods, making little weird crafty things, taking photos, painting, collage, putting things in little boxes and then putting those boxes in odd places, petting furry and non-furry beasts, listening to music in the car, gardening, and designing DIY projects made of felt or old vintage fabrics. She works for two different professors at two different universities. She also wrote four YA non-fiction books a world of time ago when she lived in NYC. One of the women scientists she wrote about knew her grandfather from NYU and her grandfather had a cool story about her. So that was cool. View all posts by jennifermacbainstephens