Poverty Hero Project
Literary and Visual Art honoring a new literary Hero - The Poverty Hero.
The Poverty Hero Project was a literary and visual art project launched in 2001 by artists at POOR Magazine in collaboration with Community Defense Inc. The three lead artists; Lisa Gray-Garcia, Leroy Moore and Dee Gray facilitated a series of 10 eight week workshops on the creation of this new form of literary hero.
These workshops culminated in a 55 page full color anthology published by POOR Press and a series of 12 radio narratives broadcast on PNN's KPFA radio show.
To get a copy of the book or CD of the radio shows please contact: POOR Press (415) 863-6306
The Poverty Heroes Project continues by honoring the lives of youth, adults and elders who have struggled, resisted, lived through poverty, racism, disability, criminalization and violence locally and globally.
Poverty Hero Jazzie Collins: Rest in Peace and in Power! We love you!
“Sweet Tea”
(For Jazzie upon receiving the LGBT person of the year award at the State Capitol)
She was shuffled
Back and forth,
Shaking hands and
Wading through a
Passel of dignitaries
At the state capitol
She had woken early
As flowers
The bird fluttering
Jane "in Vain" Winkelman- Poverty Hero
An Ode To Jane “in Vain” Winkelman- a revolutionary artist and Poverty Hero
Rest in Power Compa- A tribute to Eric Quezada
I stand alone en las calles en la mision seeing places where you should be standing and remembering verdad y palabraz you said- words and chants you spoke, protests you marched in -remembering your humble revolution
Death of a Poverty Hero- Mikey Chapman
Born to rough Texas parents with a disciplinary attitude, Mikey left Texas under mutual agreement between himself and the state. He worked as a roustabout, and on one occasion he taped his own broken ribs with duct tape after falling off a ride he was setting up.
For Mama Solteras (Single Mamas) in poverty and my Mama Dee...
Thank-u mama(s)
fo feeding me healthy to run fast and always see clear
without any money near
for dreaming always of mo betta even tho
u were filled wit so much sorrow
for living through evictions and endless poverty
and never giving up the dedication
to something u saw in me
fo saving me from pedophile glances
and teaching me all your ritmo and carrying my soul through so many dances
Rest in Glory Sweet Friend: In Loving Memory of Salvador Guzman-Poverty Hero
(Photos By David Elliott Lewis and Friends)
Our Journey Began with You and Me: In Honor of Mama Dee.
Above, always I hear your call, and cry out
"Without Mama Dee, whom there would be no me!"
Our journey began with you and me
To Trent, From Max
June 2000
I got to know Trent James Hayward in a journalism course at Media Alliance in San Francisco.
I had the privilege to work with him, the best writer in the group, for a couple of stories. He was always a source of fun and professionalism. He tought me a lot about writing and talked to me about his mother and family living back east.
Trent will always have a place in my heart.
To Trent, from Scott Clark
June 2000
Time takes a cigarette
Puts it in your mouth
You pull on a finger,
Then another finger,
Then, cigarette.
The waterwall is calling,
It lingers, then you forget:
Oh, no, no, no;
You’re a Rock and Roll suicide.
You walk past the café,
But you don’t eat
When you’ve lived too long.
Oh, oh, oh, oh;
You’re a rock and roll Suicide.
--David Bowie: Rock and Roll Suicide
