Dinge Delta Lit 101
“critique Southern culture
and history and to offer
ways of revamping and
reconstituting whiteness
in the modern-meaning
postslavery-moment.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
not only white folks—
but str8t white consciousness
that was the problem.
there in allen hall—
back in the early sixties
before gay black lib.
segregation still—
playing white disavowal games
us dinge queens were silent.
and yet there she was—
in my english class discussing
“absalom,” my dears.
Dinge Queen Closetry
“Joe Christmas became the central
character of the novel when it
became evident to Faulkner that
another element, an embodied
racial signifier, was necessary to get
at the heart of Southern history.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
it seemed ironic—
doubly so since i lived my
forbidden lifestyle.
off campus down there—
in a hippie tiger town
dumpy apartment.
i kept to myself—
living with a negro kid
i be a dinge queen.
before mapplethorpe—
“man in polyester suit”
i lived it, baby…
Living Light in August
“In Faulkner's text,
the brutal murder of
a white woman…”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
i got murdered too—
like brutally fucked to death
every night real bad.
it wasn’t pretty—
but that’s the way i wanted
it though, dontchaknow.
i be LSU white trash—
down & dirty sho enough
something i deserved.
after slavery—
lynchings now cums manly
skanky miscegenation.
Negrophobe Myths
“Faulkner's recognition
of the Negrophobe myth”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
miss negrophobia—
and delta consciousness
there in allen hall.
deep south history—
“absalom, absalom!” and
“go down, moses” texts.
yet the faculty—
and secondaire literature
remained so closety.
walt whitman still be—
“don’t ask, don’t tell” poet
like gide, proust, ginsberg.
Mandingo Metonyms
"metonym for the tragic
aftermath of slavery, the Civil
War, and Reconstruction"
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
the way they fought it—
post-emancipation south
triesome str8t histories.
“light in august” based—
on a real negro lynching,
when faulkner was a boy.
mixed-race metaphors—
miscegenation straddling
"passe blanc" back then.
Young Black Manhood
“Miscegenation is also the
principal means by which
Faulkner contemplates and
represents the imperiled
state of white masculinity
in post-Reconstruction era…”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
i couldn’t help it—
i was obsessed with blackness
and young black manhood.
my imperiled state—
of queenly faggotry bugging
me in baton rouge.
i fell imadly n love—
with a young black waiter
back then in the infirmary.
and a creole kid—
from new orleans down
there in the big easy.
Tiger Town Romance
“and the homoerotic
desire and dread underpinning
the white male obsession
with black manhood.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
i almost had a—
nervous breakdown with all
that dinge sex in college.
i even flunked out—
had to move off campus into
a tiger town dive.
a lot more laid-back—
mostly hippies & drop-outs
a more laid-back lifestyle.
ate at the infirmary—
that’s how i met "joe christmas"
leroy and his kid brother.
Young Joe Christmas
“Joe Christmas represents
Faulkner's meditation on the
civic equality of black men in
the post-Reconstruction era and
its effect on the psyche of whites.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
leroy was this waiter—
his mother ran the kitchen
she be the head cook.
he wore a starched white—
tuxedo like they used to wear
in fancy train dining cars…
we got along just fine—
he’d hit me up for a loan
plus i tipped him real nice.
he knew i liked him—
pretty soon he just moved in
his mother liked me too.
The Mandingo Moment
“the modern-meaning
postslavery-moment.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
working my way down—
down thru both “absalom” and
“go down moses” as dingequeen.
doing downlow all the way—
to “light in august” living
my dinge queen bad way.
no way turning back—
once you’ve gone black,
all the way, my dears.
i needed it really bad—
i couldn’t help myself once
i got leroy jones off.
Primitivo Black Penis
"primitive irrationality
attractive to the modern,
alienated intellectual
because it provided the
means by which to
represent the individual
unconscious"
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
i’m sure it was all—
just sheer prejudice lurking
there in my dumb head.
getting his ten inches—
uncut libidinal negrohood
untamed id loins…
all that violent—
dangerous, irrational
blackness down my throat.
primitivo prick—
conjuring up dark africa
rimming his tight asshole?
White Boy Prejudice
“At the historical moment
of Light in August’s emergence,
blackness was highly visible
and widely commodified in
the culture at large.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
back in the thirties—
it’s so easy for me to
imagine renaissance.
no wonder harlem bloomed—
during twenties exodus north
the great southern escape.
then during WWII—
off to the aircraft plants
looking for a LA job.
outta the deep south—
the dinge diaspora disperses
the great migration.
Prejudice Production
“new modes of production
within capitalism enabled
racial stereotypes to become
firmly entrenched in the
popular imaginary.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
allen hall languished—
in a huey p. long daze
sixties still like thirties.
on the hallway walls—
WPA murals gazing down
in frozen delta time.
spending summer school—
the art deco swimming pool
the aging fieldhouse.
living with leroy—
i felt ashamed of himself
draining the kid dry each night.
Shame and Self-Loathing
“The railroad, photography,
the cinema, and the advertising
industry provided the means
of disseminating quickly and
nationally negative images
of African Americans.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
the same shamefulness—
the way faulkner be so deeply
embedded in dinge lit.
his dinge perspective—
tainting everything that moved
outta yoknapatawpha country.
it was deep south lit—
there was no use fighting it...
so i let it flow inside me.
Sixties Lifestyle
“In painting & literature,
the step away from conventional
verisimilitude into abstraction
is accomplished by a figurative
change of race."
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
doing a google—
zooming down into the map
down toward street level.
things haven’t changed much—
except maybe getting dumpier…
the little bookstore gone.
behind the pool hall—
that run-down dinge apartment
where dinge & i lived in sin.
jesus, how time flies—
those years with leroy jones
fucking me royally.
Whiteface/Blackface
“textual blackface operated
as a literary trope and practice
that enabled meditations on
and representations of the
fragmented self in early-
20th-century American culture.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
i suppose later—
20th-century american lit
yawns at such zeitgeist.
gay representations—
of young afro-americans
by white boyz like me.
whitey-authored texts—
marking cumly black moments
seminal dinge lit/poetry.
even writing it now—
embarrasses me immensely
still turns me on so hot.
Black Rights/Gay Rights
“What determined blackness
was susceptibility to violence,
a so-called inability to fend off
or control primal urges, and an
ultimate negation of the rights
and privileges.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
it sounds familiar—
the same way today’s faggots
get treated by str8ts.
black gays getting it—
even worse by fellow blacks
for all sorts of reasons.
the same debates—
during harlem renaissance
in the niggeratti mansion.
wallace thurman and—
his “infants of spring” debate
with str8t black intelligentsia.
Joe Christmas Now
“haunting presence in the
town of Jefferson. Carrying
with him his own inescapable
warning, like a flower its scent
or a rattlesnake its rattle"
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
the aids plague killing—
all the white boyz first
then the black’s turn next.
intravenous death—
hiv positive thanatos
std’s back in vogue.
alex hemphill gone—
marlon riggs & tongues untied
is this how it happens?
the naïve sixties—
deep south 50 years ago
a dinge queen back then?
“critique Southern culture
and history and to offer
ways of revamping and
reconstituting whiteness
in the modern-meaning
postslavery-moment.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
not only white folks—
but str8t white consciousness
that was the problem.
there in allen hall—
back in the early sixties
before gay black lib.
segregation still—
playing white disavowal games
us dinge queens were silent.
and yet there she was—
in my english class discussing
“absalom,” my dears.
Dinge Queen Closetry
“Joe Christmas became the central
character of the novel when it
became evident to Faulkner that
another element, an embodied
racial signifier, was necessary to get
at the heart of Southern history.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
it seemed ironic—
doubly so since i lived my
forbidden lifestyle.
off campus down there—
in a hippie tiger town
dumpy apartment.
i kept to myself—
living with a negro kid
i be a dinge queen.
before mapplethorpe—
“man in polyester suit”
i lived it, baby…
Living Light in August
“In Faulkner's text,
the brutal murder of
a white woman…”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
i got murdered too—
like brutally fucked to death
every night real bad.
it wasn’t pretty—
but that’s the way i wanted
it though, dontchaknow.
i be LSU white trash—
down & dirty sho enough
something i deserved.
after slavery—
lynchings now cums manly
skanky miscegenation.
Negrophobe Myths
“Faulkner's recognition
of the Negrophobe myth”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
miss negrophobia—
and delta consciousness
there in allen hall.
deep south history—
“absalom, absalom!” and
“go down, moses” texts.
yet the faculty—
and secondaire literature
remained so closety.
walt whitman still be—
“don’t ask, don’t tell” poet
like gide, proust, ginsberg.
Mandingo Metonyms
"metonym for the tragic
aftermath of slavery, the Civil
War, and Reconstruction"
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
the way they fought it—
post-emancipation south
triesome str8t histories.
“light in august” based—
on a real negro lynching,
when faulkner was a boy.
mixed-race metaphors—
miscegenation straddling
"passe blanc" back then.
Young Black Manhood
“Miscegenation is also the
principal means by which
Faulkner contemplates and
represents the imperiled
state of white masculinity
in post-Reconstruction era…”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
i couldn’t help it—
i was obsessed with blackness
and young black manhood.
my imperiled state—
of queenly faggotry bugging
me in baton rouge.
i fell imadly n love—
with a young black waiter
back then in the infirmary.
and a creole kid—
from new orleans down
there in the big easy.
Tiger Town Romance
“and the homoerotic
desire and dread underpinning
the white male obsession
with black manhood.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
i almost had a—
nervous breakdown with all
that dinge sex in college.
i even flunked out—
had to move off campus into
a tiger town dive.
a lot more laid-back—
mostly hippies & drop-outs
a more laid-back lifestyle.
ate at the infirmary—
that’s how i met "joe christmas"
leroy and his kid brother.
Young Joe Christmas
“Joe Christmas represents
Faulkner's meditation on the
civic equality of black men in
the post-Reconstruction era and
its effect on the psyche of whites.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
leroy was this waiter—
his mother ran the kitchen
she be the head cook.
he wore a starched white—
tuxedo like they used to wear
in fancy train dining cars…
we got along just fine—
he’d hit me up for a loan
plus i tipped him real nice.
he knew i liked him—
pretty soon he just moved in
his mother liked me too.
The Mandingo Moment
“the modern-meaning
postslavery-moment.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
working my way down—
down thru both “absalom” and
“go down moses” as dingequeen.
doing downlow all the way—
to “light in august” living
my dinge queen bad way.
no way turning back—
once you’ve gone black,
all the way, my dears.
i needed it really bad—
i couldn’t help myself once
i got leroy jones off.
Primitivo Black Penis
"primitive irrationality
attractive to the modern,
alienated intellectual
because it provided the
means by which to
represent the individual
unconscious"
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
i’m sure it was all—
just sheer prejudice lurking
there in my dumb head.
getting his ten inches—
uncut libidinal negrohood
untamed id loins…
all that violent—
dangerous, irrational
blackness down my throat.
primitivo prick—
conjuring up dark africa
rimming his tight asshole?
White Boy Prejudice
“At the historical moment
of Light in August’s emergence,
blackness was highly visible
and widely commodified in
the culture at large.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
back in the thirties—
it’s so easy for me to
imagine renaissance.
no wonder harlem bloomed—
during twenties exodus north
the great southern escape.
then during WWII—
off to the aircraft plants
looking for a LA job.
outta the deep south—
the dinge diaspora disperses
the great migration.
Prejudice Production
“new modes of production
within capitalism enabled
racial stereotypes to become
firmly entrenched in the
popular imaginary.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
allen hall languished—
in a huey p. long daze
sixties still like thirties.
on the hallway walls—
WPA murals gazing down
in frozen delta time.
spending summer school—
the art deco swimming pool
the aging fieldhouse.
living with leroy—
i felt ashamed of himself
draining the kid dry each night.
Shame and Self-Loathing
“The railroad, photography,
the cinema, and the advertising
industry provided the means
of disseminating quickly and
nationally negative images
of African Americans.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
the same shamefulness—
the way faulkner be so deeply
embedded in dinge lit.
his dinge perspective—
tainting everything that moved
outta yoknapatawpha country.
it was deep south lit—
there was no use fighting it...
so i let it flow inside me.
Sixties Lifestyle
“In painting & literature,
the step away from conventional
verisimilitude into abstraction
is accomplished by a figurative
change of race."
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
doing a google—
zooming down into the map
down toward street level.
things haven’t changed much—
except maybe getting dumpier…
the little bookstore gone.
behind the pool hall—
that run-down dinge apartment
where dinge & i lived in sin.
jesus, how time flies—
those years with leroy jones
fucking me royally.
Whiteface/Blackface
“textual blackface operated
as a literary trope and practice
that enabled meditations on
and representations of the
fragmented self in early-
20th-century American culture.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
i suppose later—
20th-century american lit
yawns at such zeitgeist.
gay representations—
of young afro-americans
by white boyz like me.
whitey-authored texts—
marking cumly black moments
seminal dinge lit/poetry.
even writing it now—
embarrasses me immensely
still turns me on so hot.
Black Rights/Gay Rights
“What determined blackness
was susceptibility to violence,
a so-called inability to fend off
or control primal urges, and an
ultimate negation of the rights
and privileges.”
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
it sounds familiar—
the same way today’s faggots
get treated by str8ts.
black gays getting it—
even worse by fellow blacks
for all sorts of reasons.
the same debates—
during harlem renaissance
in the niggeratti mansion.
wallace thurman and—
his “infants of spring” debate
with str8t black intelligentsia.
Joe Christmas Now
“haunting presence in the
town of Jefferson. Carrying
with him his own inescapable
warning, like a flower its scent
or a rattlesnake its rattle"
—Aliyyah I Abdur-Rahman,
“Light In August,” The Faulkner
Journal 10-01-2006
the aids plague killing—
all the white boyz first
then the black’s turn next.
intravenous death—
hiv positive thanatos
std’s back in vogue.
alex hemphill gone—
marlon riggs & tongues untied
is this how it happens?
the naïve sixties—
deep south 50 years ago
a dinge queen back then?
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