of sapphire folk & what is airborne

05/07/20

by avery r. young

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Because of who we are here, it's important to connect today to history, to remember we're not the first to walk into a mess like this. We're not the first to see power like that. And yet, also because of who we are, we feel loneliness and horror in new ways very specific to this time. In his new chapbook, of sapphire folk and what is airborne, written and designed for Quarantine Times, the legendary avery r. young does both. Lot's wife is here (but now she has a name), and so is Prince, and so are books by Tyehimba and t'ai and Krista (in avery's room, and in mine too). I love avery's work, which is an action, because it always teaches me how to listen, often while also dropping crucial knowledge (about me, you, us, this). I play his poems again and again like records, and every time they hit me in the throat. I'm glad avery elected not to write an intro for his own work, because it needs none, and so now I'll get out of its way. 

MC, Quarantine Times Thursday Editor

Read of sapphire folk & what is airborne on a screen below, or download the entire piece in a format the artist created.


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Interdisciplinary artist avery r. young is also an award-winning teaching artist who has been an Arts and Public Life Artist-In-Residence at the University of Chicago. In the foreword of young's most recent book neckbone: visual verses (Northwestern University Press), Theaster Gates called him “one of our greatest living street poets. . . one of the most important thinkers on the Black experience.” Black Grooves referred to his most recent album tubman. (FPE Records) as “brilliant” and “supremely funky.” young’s poems and essays have been published in Cecil McDonald's In The Company of Black, The BreakBeat Poets, The Golden Shovel Anthology: New Poems Honoring Gwendolyn Brooks, AIMPrint, and other anthologies. His album booker t. soltreyne: a race rekkid engages matters of race, gender, and sexuality in America during the Obama Era. avery’s work in performance, visual text, and sound design has been featured in several exhibitions and theatre festivals—notably the Hip Hop Theatre Festival, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the American Jazz Museum. He is the featured vocalist on flutist Nicole Mitchell’s Mandorla Awakening (FPE Records) and is one of four directors of the Floating Museum, while also co-mentoring Rebirth Youth Poetry Ensemble and performing with his band, de deacon board.

Pronouns: he him his

Instagram: @avery_r_young, Twitter: @beblk

avery r. young worked on this piece with Mairead Case, the Quarantine Times Thursday editor. Every week, Mairead selects a Chicagoan to share a commissioned creative response to the pandemic. 

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Quarantine Comics: Days 44-49

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A Quarantine Times Poster by Ryan Duggan