Sacred Spells: Collected Works

This vibrant collection from Saint (1957–1994) brings together his poetry, fiction, song lyrics, plays, and essays. Born in Haiti, Saint moved with his mother to New York City as a teenager. His poetry is frequently political in theme (“The Wedding,” for example, addresses America’s fight for LGBTQ equality: “tabernacle of the american dream/ reached with our rainbows lambdas unicorns/ rebels we vow never to bow”) and touches on the AIDS crisis, as well as other issues (“South African Roadblocks” ends with the lines “bullets bark/ sniff blood botha”; “Howard Beach” piercingly excoriates the 1986 beating of a Black man by white teenagers in Queens). In the short story “Hooked for Life,” a young man, facing the imminent death of his lover due to Kaposi’s sarcoma, tells his boyfriend’s angry mother, “I don’t expect you to like it and I don’t care if you dislike it but this is our story, just the way it is.” Photographs of Saint are peppered throughout, as well as accounts of his work as a mentor, publisher, and professional dancer. The book’s back matter includes a chronology of Saint’s life along with several pages of personal and professional tributes. It’s a powerful tribute to a trailblazing LGBTQ artist. (Aug.)