About Chad Goller-Sojourner
Chad is a poet and spoken word performance artist. His inaugural chapbook, Born One Thousand Years Too Early: Fat, Dark-Skinned, Gay and Adopted by White Folks A Fragmentary Journey Towards Alignment, received accolades from Maya Angelou and has been described as poignant, chilling and prophetic. He served as the creator, and artistic director for Standing In The Gap - And Speaking Their Names - Black Gay Poets Honor Their Ancestors - A Spoken Word Requiem. Additionally, a multi-media show, Sitting in Circles with Rich White Girls: Memoirs of a Bulimic Black Boy, which chronicles his life-long affair with the scale and an eating disorder, and a novel In God's Way are also in the works.
Nominated by the Central District Forum for Arts and Ideas
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The Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas (CD Forum) was founded in 1999 and our mission is to present and produce African-American cultural programs that encourage thought and debate for the greater Seattle area. Our vision is to inspire new thoughts and challenge assumptions about African-American culture. We offer a full series of programs that explore a broad cross-section of African-American art and issues. Our annual season includes the performing arts featuring nationally touring artists, and two humanities series: American Heritage and Which Way Seattle?.
HAUNTED
by Chad Goller-Sojourner
I am haunted by images: the date 1955, the setting Selma, Alabama. I am standing between two water fountains. One is marked coloreds, where stained waters stir and creep forth from within. One is marked whites only, where streams of luminous water unite and burst forth into the bright daylight. And I am thirsty and colored yet very fair skinned. Two fountains, each offering temporal relief, neither without compromise, wounds or scars.
I am haunted by images: the date 1985, the setting New York City. I am standing between two hospitals. One is Catholic, where viruses have been assigned morals, and paintings of the pope outnumber condoms 1000 to none. One is public yet under-funded and overflowing with black and brown bodies. And I am gay, white and sick; with every breath I trip the switches on the silent bombs now bursting within my blood. Two hospitals, each masquerading bad medicine as temporal relief, neither without compromise, wounds or scars.
I am haunted by images: the date 1995, the setting Houston, Texas. I am standing between two churches. One is full-gospel Pentecostal and rooted in the black tradition-a tradition in which sweet honey and bitter homophobia flow from the same rock. One is white and liberal where pastors preach of a God who dwells within and loves me as I am; yet it is void of both a choir and a cross. And I am black, gay and spiritually bankrupt. Two churches, each offering up their own brand of temporal relief, one more earthly and one more heavenly, neither without compromise, wounds or scars.
I am haunted by images: the date 2005, the setting Seattle, Washington. I am standing between two restrooms, one marked men and one marked women. My bladder is full and I am transgender. Though my shell is female; my nature, being and knowing are fully male. Two restrooms, each offering temporal relief, neither without compromise, wounds or scars.
I am haunted by myriads of images, all offering temporal relief, none without compromise, wounds or scars.