Hip Logic Quotes

“My mother was a dark red head wrap. Her life had been heavier than the fire she carried on her back.     This is the meaning of the past, Boy. There were maps & scriptures carved into my palms, whole towns”
― Terrance Hayes, Hip Logic

“Can you remember the womb? How, in the moments before birth, The lines were washed from the map That told the route you’d come?”
― Terrance Hayes, Hip Logic

“WILLIAM H. JOHNSON —a letter home, circa 1933   Forgive this letter covered in paint. There are no rags around me. I cannot tell you where I am, but where I ain’t.     I am not where the color of my skin taints Everything. Remember the way folks looked at me When I walked through Florence covered in paint?     There, I was less than nothing. I took a train To Harlem; a ship to Denmark to be free. I can only tell you that here, I ain’t     Who I used to be. I am a Negro who has lain With a white woman in a foreign country. Momma, forgive this letter covered in paint.     I ain’t coming back. Here, no one complains When Holcha & I kiss in the street. Color doesn’t tells us what we are & what we ain’t     Never going to be. I have left my name On the walls of a dozen museums & galleries. I have covered my face in paint. I cannot tell you who I am, but who I ain’t.”
― Terrance Hayes, Hip Logic