You Can’t Win With Racism: Interview with Diamond Sharp
Diamond Sharp is a poet and writer from Chicago. She has performed at Chicago’s Stage 773 and her work has been featured on Chicago Public Radio. Her work has been published in Fjords’ Black American Edition, Doll Hospital Journal, PANK, JoINT Literary, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, and BLACKBERRY: A Magazine. She currently works as the Media Coordinator for the Black Youth Project. She is also a co-editor of Zora Magazine and an essay reader for the Offing. She is an alumna of Wellesley College. She will begin her MFA in Poetry studies at Pratt Institute in the fall.
PHILLIP: DIAMOND, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING ME TODAY. IT’S CLOUDY HERE IN CHICAGO AND WE MISS YOU.
Diamond: I miss y’all too.
P: HERE AT GLAPPITNOVA WE ARE CONSTANTLY LOOKING FOR YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS AND LEADERS IN THEIR FIELD. I WANT TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT YOUR POETRY AND ALSO YOUR EDITORIAL WORK. I THINK YOU ARE HAVING THE CAREER THAT MANY PEOPLE WANT AND CAN GIVE SOME INSIGHT INTO WHAT LED YOU TO THIS PATH THAT I THINK IS CONSIDERABLY SUCCESSFUL.
LET’S START BRIEFLY WITH HOW YOU GOT STARTED WITH WRITING. WHEN WAS THE TIME YOU KNEW FOR SURE WRITING WOULD BE YOUR THING.
D: This happened at three points in my life. In 2003, when my grandfather died, I joined the Spoken Word club at Oak Park and River Forest and I felt like I had found my people. Then in 2005 I joined Young Chicago Authors, which opened up writing as well as the city, in ways I would not have experienced if I did not join that program. The mentorship I got was so important. I can never repay Toni Asante Lightfoot, Krista Franklin, or Tara Betts back for everything they have done for me.
“YCA changed my life and saved my life.”
Wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now without it. This last one is going to seem gushy, but after the Dark Room Collective Reunion show in DC, we all went back to an after-party. I remember feeling really welcomed — but more importantly than that, I felt like the older artists in the room were genuinely interested in the emerging artists in the room. Which is not a given everywhere. Note, I’ve had my fair share of bad run-ins with more established writers who are not interested in encouraging young writers. But, I think this all shows why mentorship is important.
P: AND NOW YOU ARE A POET IN YOUR OWN RIGHT AND HAVE BEEN FOR SOME TIME. I SPEAK ABOUT MENTORSHIP HERE FREQUENTLY AND THE DANGERS OF HAVING AN UNHEALTHY MENTOR AND THE POWER IN HAVING A STRONG MENTOR, SO I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU MEAN.
AS A YOUNG WRITER, WHAT ARE SOME THINGS YOU SEE IN SOCIETY THAT ENCOURAGE YOU TO WRITE? I THINK THIS IS A LOADED QUESTION, RIGHT? BUT MORE THAN INSPIRATION, I’M WONDERING IF THERE ARE MOMENTS WHERE YOU FEEL AS THOUGH IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY AS A YOUNG VOICE TO SPEAK UP. HAS THERE EVER BEEN A CASE LIKE THAT FOR YOU?
D: Well, at the moment, most of my writing is about mental illness and my experience with bipolar II disorder. If I had to sum up my writing, it’s about: crazy, Chicago, black folks, Up South, and queerness. I write about mental illness because I’ve watched too many other struggling black women take their own lives, or retreat into their innerselves and never come back. The onset of bipolar II at 22 completely changed my life. It’s a fairly recent diagnosis in the grand scheme of things and I feel like I’m constantly relearning how to be myself and operate with the symptoms of this illness.
It’s been a struggle these past four years because I feel like I’ve lost my real self. I’m in constant mourning of my previous self. It took my last manic/depressive episode this past February and its aftermath to finally realize that “old” me is never coming back. I thought she would if I tried hard enough, but see, the way my mental illness is set up, she’s not. I want to come to terms with that realization but also allow myself to go through the stages of grief. That’s a lot to process and I know I’m not the only black girl experiencing this. I’m pretty open about my suicidal ideations because it’s the elephant in the room when discussing mental health. Yes, I think about killing myself a lot, it comes with the disorder. If I do nothing else, I want to push back on the romantic notion of mania. Manic episodes have consequences. Not everyone that experiences them is able to produce work and the episodes can cause a whole host of health and interpersonal issues. There’s nothing fun about them, at least for me. I have yet to walk away from a manic episode without feeling like damaged goods or a defective product.
“I’m sure other folks struggling with bipolar disorder can relate to the simultaneous feelings of defeat, despair, embarrassment, shame and the general shittiness of having your mania be public and/or disruptive to others.”
If anyone knows a word that encompasses those feelings, let me know.
P: CORRECT ME IF I’M WRONG, BUT IT SEEMS RARE TO HAVE A WOMAN OF COLOR WRITE ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH IN A WAY THAT PUTS IT RIGHT UP FRONT “THIS IS HOW I THINK. THIS IS REAL FOR ME.” AND, OF COURSE, PART OF MY IGNORANCE OF THESE WRITINGS AND WRITERS IS THAT IT ISN’T MADE TO BE POPULAR. SO MUCH OF OUR STRONGEST WORK IS HIDDEN FROM THE PUBLIC BY PUBLISHERS OR JOURNALS REFUSING TO PUBLISH WHAT IS MOST REAL. SO, TWO QUESTIONS. IS THIS WRITING AS RARE AS I THINK IT IS? HAVE YOU HAD CHALLENGES WITH GETTING YOUR WORK PUBLISHED?
D: I think this writing is getting less rare. I don’t feel well read enough to be an expert on this. Aricka Foreman Morgan Parker and Bassey Ikpi come to mind as black women poets that I can think of writing about this topic. Warsan Shire to an extent too. It seems like mental health issues in her family are implied in some of her poems. Then I know quite a few black prose and nonfiction writers such as Ashley Ford and Vanessa Willoughby who write on the issue. But to be honest, besides Bebe Moore Campbell, I can’t think of any women of color in the generations before me. Sylvia Plath operates as my guide. Plath is great, and I identify with her, but if anyone can direct me to a black poet of that generation or later generations that wrote on the subject, please hit my line. To your question about publishing, I also don’t feel like the answer I can give is representative. To be frank, I’ve spent the last four years between a state of mania or depression. The reason I didn’t publish often the last four years is because I was either too sick to write or too sick to submit. Now that I have a better handle on my mental health, I’m finding it easier to navigate publishing and I’ve been doing pretty well.
P: THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF TALK RECENTLY CONCERNING CONCEPTUAL POET VANESSA PLACE WHO HAS BEEN DOCUMENTED AS LIBERALLY USING THE “N-WORD” AT A UNIVERSITY READING AND TWEETING UNDER THE AVATAR OF A MAMIE FIGURE, A STEREOTYPE USED TO DIMINISH BLACK WOMEN, WHILE REWRITING GONE WITH THE WIND IN TWEETS. THE END OF HER ARTISTIC STATEMENT READS: “ SO I HAVE STOLEN MARGARET MITCHELL’S “NIGGERS” AND CLAIM THEM AS MY OWN. IN A FUNNY WAY, I AM REPLICATING HUCK FINN’S DILEMMA/CONVERSION: TO UNDERSTAND THAT KEEPING (NOT TURNING IN RUNAWAY) NIGGER JIM IS STEALING, FOR WHICH ONE MAY WELL GO TO HELL, AND TO DO IT ANYWAY.” WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS, IF ANY ON THIS?
D: “You can’t win with racism. That’s my opinion.”
P: IN YOUR POEM “ANNUS MIRABILIS” YOU WRITE: “SOMEWHERE BETWEEN ROXBURY AND SOMERVILLE I KNEW I’D RATHER HAVE A NETTIE THAN A SHUG.” I READ THIS AS A CALL FOR A SISTER FIGURE RATHER THAN AN AMOROUS ONE, BUT SHUG WAS ALSO A SISTER FIGURE, MAYBE MORE SO ON THE TRICKSTER SIDE? CAN YOU TALK A BIT ABOUT WHAT THIS LINE MEANS FOR YOU AND MAYBE EVEN A LITTLE ABOUT IF YOU’VE FOUND SISTERHOOD IN THE POETRY COMMUNITY. DON’T BE AFRAID TO NAME NAMES! HAHA.
D: When I wrote this poem, it was the first time I recognized how queer I am. I knew it, but I had never really been in a relationship with a woman. That relationship was somewhere between the gray area of friendship and romance but it was something I didn’t realize I had the capacity for. I’m not a romantic, to say the least. So that’s why I wrote it.
I went to a women’s college so I feel like if I hear the word “sisterhood” one more time, I’ll scream. But, what Wellesley taught me is that women can have very intense friendships — intense platonic friendships. And that losing those bonds can be more devastating than the loss of a romantic relationship. Wellesley has pretty much made it impossible for me to have superficial friendships with other women. I’m pretty sure that I’ve had a girl crush on all of my close women friends at some point. Not romantic girl crushes (though, the few times it’s crossed that line, we’ve quickly figured out that operating romantically is not conducive to our friendship), girl crush meaning that I’m really into their energy and the space they occupy in the world and want to be friends forever. I’m really at a space in my life where I’m more interested in cultivating friendships with other women. Not really looking for romantic relationships at the moment. Finding friends is weird because you’re essentially saying, “Hey you! I want you to stick around forever and hangout with me. That cool?” I’ve found sisterhood in the poetry community and the Black Girl Writing Mafia in general.
P: NOW YOU KNOW YOU HAVE TO TELL US WHAT THE BLACK GIRL WRITING MAFIA IS.
D: Ha! There’s a whole community of black women that you see in major publications and we all know each other. Thank Twitter and Tumblr for that. If it wasn’t for Twitter, I wouldn’t have connected with most of these women. It really can just be the Black Girl Mafia since there’s so many of us doing dope shit whether in writing or in other fields and are connected in real life or on the internet. But the writing portion of Magical Black Women consists of some of my best friends. Hannah Giorgis is my main boo and we wouldn’t have met if not for Tumblr and Twitter.
P: WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE WORKING WITH BLACK YOUTH PROJECT (BYP)? WHAT ARE SOME THINGS WE CAN LOOK FORWARD TO IN THE FUTURE? THAT ORGANIZATION HAS BEEN A POWERFUL PRESENCE FOR BLACK YOUTH AND YOUTH IN GENERAL, I THINK, IN PARTICULAR WITH GIVING A MICROPHONE TO VOICES THAT OFTEN GET IGNORED. I THINK BYP ALSO CREATES AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE PEOPLE OF ALL AGES CAN FEEL COMFORTABLE GETTING INVOLVED IN THEIR COMMUNITIES, SO I AM REALLY EXCITED THAT YOU ARE THERE.
D: BYP is great! I’m so glad that I have the opportunity to work with an organization that I love so much. As for the future, the biggest concern of mine is revamping the website. It’s still reminiscent of its old days as a blog. But, you can expect a completely revamped site soon.
P: THAT’S EXCELLENT TO HEAR! WHAT IS THE MAIN DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WRITING POETRY AND EDITING THAT YOU FEEL HELPS YOU AS AN ARTIST? DO YOU THINK THE TWO CAN INFORM ONE ANOTHER AS PRACTICES?
D: I feel like editing allows me to get out of my head as a poet, which is a good thing. It opens me up to writings and information I might otherwise not be up on. Poetry influences my editing practices because it allows me to think outside of the box. Digital media and new media is perfect for poets. We have the opportunity to create whatever we like.
P: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TALKING WITH ME, TODAY. WHERE CAN PEOPLE LEARN MORE ABOUT YOU? WHAT’S YOUR TWITTER HANDLE SO WE CAN FOLLOW YOU AND SHOW SOME LOVE?
D: Follow me on Twitter at @diamonde
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