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| REVIEW |
A Right
to Sing
the Blues
to Sing
the Blues
love conjure/blues by Sharon Bridgforth
| Other new titles |
Is there nothing Sharon Bridgforth can’t do?
One may be left asking that question after
completing her latest book love conjure/blues, a
work that rightfully and defiantly bucks limitations,
even by its own description. Best known for her
remarkable Lambda Literary Award winning debut
the bull-jean stories, Bridgforth herself defies
limited description. She is an author, a
performance artist, has received support from the
National Endowment of the Arts, and is the Artistic
Director of ALLGO, a gay and lesbian Latino/a
community organization out of Austin, Texas.
In the way that this author is varied, it is also true
of love conjure/blues. It is at once a novel, poetry,
drama, performance art, song, and an oral history
about a group of residents (a majority of them
women)–family, friends, lovers, and ex-lovers–
living under the haunting possession of love, of the
heartbreak that love can cause, and of a tongue
borrowed from generations past that binds and
helps them conjure emotions so deep and words
so eloquent that the characters themselves have
no idea how they are moved to use such language.
she left/her body
left her mind
left/floating
with empty eyes/in silence
she left
swept away
landed in the wrong place/at the right time
miss sunday morning opened her eyes saw
sweet t’s face and cried.
said i’m home now. and
they didn’t need no words. they saw it all in one
the other’s eyes
and knew what they knew.
The story begins with a shooting in a small fictional
town–the result of a lover’s triangle–and proceeds
to relay the story and interactions of such
memorable characters as Mannish Mary, Sweet T,
Red, Slim Figurman, Sheriff Townswater, Sr. and
Sheriff Townswater, Duckie Smooth, Peachy,
Bettye, Lil Tiny, Isadora, Miss Sunday Morning,
Booka Chang and Joshua Davis, Lushy, Kokomo,
and Bitty.
Many of these characters make up the late-night
crowd at King Creole’s Café, a jumping “jernt” with
powerful blues and jazz music, tasty food, and
riotous conversations, owned by Slim Figurman,
but run by his sister Bettye. It is here that many of
the stories unfold: tales of love and desire,
desperation, immense heartache, faith and
commitment, and hard travels down the road of
life.
One of the more memorable stories belongs to
Bridgforth’s most striking creation since bull-jean:
Big Bill, whose own past is so raw, arresting and
recognizable, that it is apt to induce tears. Still, Big
Bill, as Bridgforth herself, never fails to entertain.
that night was a wo’mn named big bill what rose up
out of bettye’s room.
big bill had on the finest suit I have seen to this day.
come in with she suit black/hat low/glasses
dark/and shoes so shining make your head hurt.
big bill walk through
the crowd part/as she make way to the piano in the
corner of the room.
big bill’s long legs reach strong
one powerful in front the other/her unbuttoned
jacket open close open close
as she walk/pants pull here here
here
material ripple across she crotch which appear
packing a large and heavy surprise
love conjure/blues is not an easy read; Bridgforth
requires much more from her audiences than the
average author. As her mind flexes and expands,
so must that of the reader.
While dubbed “performance literature,” the novel is
actually told in stanzas, with stories on top of
stories, behind stories, stories inside of stories,
spanning time and space, in the vein of Amy Tan.
This novel takes place during the years
immediately following the end of African-American
slavery, but neither Bridgforth nor her story is to be
contained to one era. Songs, poetry, haints, and
oral histories all interject themselves in between
the stanzas of this book, coming at the reader from
every direction, strangely and aptly making sense
as they support and dimensionalize the story, and
explore and push the limits of the terms language
and literature (think of the Greek chorus during a
Theban play).
love conjure/blues is astonishing in that it packs
much into its eighty-nine pages. Bridgforth’s keen
insight into love is on each and every page, and
will leave the reader recalling its stories long after
the book is finished (Sweet T’s hard past, Isadora’s
warning to Marsa, Duckie Smooth and his wife
Cora Davis, Big Bill’s blues). Moreover, one will be
amazed at how Bridgforth has manifested so many
vivid characters with compelling personalities and
tales to match. Original and an unforgettable
experience, love conjure/blues will keep readers
rapt, demanding multiple, fulfilling, and insightful
reads. P&A
One may be left asking that question after
completing her latest book love conjure/blues, a
work that rightfully and defiantly bucks limitations,
even by its own description. Best known for her
remarkable Lambda Literary Award winning debut
the bull-jean stories, Bridgforth herself defies
limited description. She is an author, a
performance artist, has received support from the
National Endowment of the Arts, and is the Artistic
Director of ALLGO, a gay and lesbian Latino/a
community organization out of Austin, Texas.
In the way that this author is varied, it is also true
of love conjure/blues. It is at once a novel, poetry,
drama, performance art, song, and an oral history
about a group of residents (a majority of them
women)–family, friends, lovers, and ex-lovers–
living under the haunting possession of love, of the
heartbreak that love can cause, and of a tongue
borrowed from generations past that binds and
helps them conjure emotions so deep and words
so eloquent that the characters themselves have
no idea how they are moved to use such language.
she left/her body
left her mind
left/floating
with empty eyes/in silence
she left
swept away
landed in the wrong place/at the right time
miss sunday morning opened her eyes saw
sweet t’s face and cried.
said i’m home now. and
they didn’t need no words. they saw it all in one
the other’s eyes
and knew what they knew.
The story begins with a shooting in a small fictional
town–the result of a lover’s triangle–and proceeds
to relay the story and interactions of such
memorable characters as Mannish Mary, Sweet T,
Red, Slim Figurman, Sheriff Townswater, Sr. and
Sheriff Townswater, Duckie Smooth, Peachy,
Bettye, Lil Tiny, Isadora, Miss Sunday Morning,
Booka Chang and Joshua Davis, Lushy, Kokomo,
and Bitty.
Many of these characters make up the late-night
crowd at King Creole’s Café, a jumping “jernt” with
powerful blues and jazz music, tasty food, and
riotous conversations, owned by Slim Figurman,
but run by his sister Bettye. It is here that many of
the stories unfold: tales of love and desire,
desperation, immense heartache, faith and
commitment, and hard travels down the road of
life.
One of the more memorable stories belongs to
Bridgforth’s most striking creation since bull-jean:
Big Bill, whose own past is so raw, arresting and
recognizable, that it is apt to induce tears. Still, Big
Bill, as Bridgforth herself, never fails to entertain.
that night was a wo’mn named big bill what rose up
out of bettye’s room.
big bill had on the finest suit I have seen to this day.
come in with she suit black/hat low/glasses
dark/and shoes so shining make your head hurt.
big bill walk through
the crowd part/as she make way to the piano in the
corner of the room.
big bill’s long legs reach strong
one powerful in front the other/her unbuttoned
jacket open close open close
as she walk/pants pull here here
here
material ripple across she crotch which appear
packing a large and heavy surprise
love conjure/blues is not an easy read; Bridgforth
requires much more from her audiences than the
average author. As her mind flexes and expands,
so must that of the reader.
While dubbed “performance literature,” the novel is
actually told in stanzas, with stories on top of
stories, behind stories, stories inside of stories,
spanning time and space, in the vein of Amy Tan.
This novel takes place during the years
immediately following the end of African-American
slavery, but neither Bridgforth nor her story is to be
contained to one era. Songs, poetry, haints, and
oral histories all interject themselves in between
the stanzas of this book, coming at the reader from
every direction, strangely and aptly making sense
as they support and dimensionalize the story, and
explore and push the limits of the terms language
and literature (think of the Greek chorus during a
Theban play).
love conjure/blues is astonishing in that it packs
much into its eighty-nine pages. Bridgforth’s keen
insight into love is on each and every page, and
will leave the reader recalling its stories long after
the book is finished (Sweet T’s hard past, Isadora’s
warning to Marsa, Duckie Smooth and his wife
Cora Davis, Big Bill’s blues). Moreover, one will be
amazed at how Bridgforth has manifested so many
vivid characters with compelling personalities and
tales to match. Original and an unforgettable
experience, love conjure/blues will keep readers
rapt, demanding multiple, fulfilling, and insightful
reads. P&A
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