blackgirl on mars: notes on a life in copenhagen (or how my alienation brings me closer to people).

ayahuasca vine illustration imt *content warning*  describes the use of nontraditional methods of treating trauma and the use of psychedelic substances. this article is meant to educate and not as a prescription. by Lesley-Ann Brown I’m not a sociologist, so I’m not fully equipped to interpret what it means when a person or thing becomes a punchline to a Chelsea Handler joke, but I am sure there are worse fates. Still, when I heard ayahuasca’s name come out of her mouth, I felt a need to speak up for it like you’d speak up to a bully picking on your best friend. Although, in all fairness to Handler, the joke was funny, this time.   I’m using Chelsea Handler as an example here – because I know how problematic she can be. And the fact that I’m engaging with this name, is a testimony to the power of ayahuasca.   Full disclosure: I’m one of those annoying folks who refer to ayahuasca as ‘Aya.’ But according to the South African Black Consciousness Scholar Simmi Dullay, ‘Aya’ ...

"The Mothers of Memory", Collage on Canvas, 2010 I come from a family of travelers. By the time I was six, I had already traveled at least twice, on my own, to Trinidad and back to Brooklyn. As driver licenses are an integral part of any suburbanite’s existence, so is the passport to my Caribbean family where migrating to the U.S. provided each and every one of us an opportunity otherwise denied in a country referred to as “home” but once left, would never be returned to, to live in, again. My grandmother, Hildred Balbirsingh was a pioneer in my family. She dresses like Queen Elisabeth II for Sunday Mass. She keeps an enamel potty under her bed (tensil she calls it) and smells like freshly grated ginger and dinner mints. She has an archipelago of liver spots on her hands which, as a child, I traced with my little brown fingers, imagining them to be islands of chocolate. By 1965 as Britain was closing her gates to her colonial charges the U.S.—influenced by the Civil Rig...

Yesterday, with the help of an amazing team of talented people, the first part of the Blackgirl on Mars photoshoot was completed...for those who know me well, I actually hate taking pictures. I feel uncomfortable in front of the camera: but as in all else, it's a matter of practice and by the end of a two hour shoot yesterday, I think I started to get the hang of it. The plan is to have a show up and running by Spring. We all know what deadlines are though...the stuff that makes the Universe laugh. But the idea of this show came to me years ago...and ever since I've been using each performance as a testing ground as to how I will put this multi-media production together. I've often found that as soon as I say I am about to do something, gifts appear. One such gift is L--a fellow New Yorker with whom I feel a kinship: creatively and spiritually. L has agreed, much to my joy, to direct this production. There is much happening, sometimes too much, but I must hang in there, tak...

She is gone now. The sight of flour on skin, age spots form an archipelago across her arms. a clutter of dusty pictures and rosaries under her bed. Life, you’d sometimes think, hadn’t been that good to you. Girdles that squeezed your fibroid infested womb— An old hallowed out home to five Barricaded Against Life… You comb your unruly hair back And look uncomfortable. The look is not you. I love it when you just Let it be— rather than tame it And look like a scared Old lady Instead of the courageous Heroine that you are. You still store things Away In overflowing drawers And cupboards Afraid that one day You will need Something & it will not be there: What trauma Gave birth to that? You say, I feel your mother Is doing something To me— Like I can’t put my Fingers on it – Your hands, exasperated go up in the air Only to slowly come down And rest, at your side Powerless. We loved each other once. The nights I fell asleep under the symphony of your snores: Uncountable. Sleepin...

Bandit Queen Press is Proud to Present: Blackgirl on Mars On Sunday November 2nd, 2pm Lesley-Ann Brown reads Selected Poems from The Organist's Daughter and her upcoming collection of poetry Blackgirl on Mars Det Poetiske Bureau Griffenfeldsgade 52

UltravioletUnderground: Featured Friend: Blackgirl On Mars

Recently, I've been receiving much support from http://guanaguanaresingsat.blogspot.com I want to express my appreciation for this. I was approached by this wonderful blogger to be included in an amazing community of Trinidadian and Tobagonian bloggers & decided that I should celebrate this by sharing the following with you: A Note From The Gull Just recently, I came across the blog of Lesley-Ann Brown, "Black Girl on Mars: Notes on a life in Copenhagen" There is so much to capture the reader's interest on this blog, not the least of which is the author's active intellectual and personal engagement in a stimulating life and her ability to engage the reader while sharing her experiences and insights. One of the pieces which I found myself revisiting is her Youtube video called "Heroes". In it the author has put her poem to music with the aid of the musician, Woody. In this poem, she acknowledges the heroic everyday contributions of ordinary people, ...

Bandit Queen Press was founded in 2007 by Brooklyn-born writer Lesley-Ann Brown. Bandit Queen Press is born out of the need for writers to exercise a symbolic and practical ownership over their work. Bandit Queen Press is born to wipe out feelings of alienation between the creator and the creation. Bandit Queen Press is born in protest to the publishing establishment. Bandit Queen Press is proud to announce its first title The Organist’s Daughter by Lesley-Ann Brown. Created on a Copenhagen Kitchen table, The Organist’s Daughter is a tribute to the unglamorous grittiness of life. Bandit Queen Press is a movement that you can be part of. All you need is access to paper. Please submit all new title ideas to banditqueenpress@yahoo.com for a copy of our manifesto which must be adhered to before use of the Bandit Queen Press seal of approval. Blackgirl on Mars can be heard at Homegrown's Myspace Merry Christmas!