Story Archives 2003

by Staff Writer

Welcome to the 2007 POOR Press Catalogue!!!

This catalogue features the amazing work of graduates of POOR Magazine's Digital Reisistance Program.
In this program, very low and no income adults and youth are given the opportunity to create a book from start to finish, beginning with creative writing, narrative essays and poetry and then progressing to graphic design and layout publishing and promotion. Since its inception, POOR Press has allowed over 46 youth and adult poverty scholars to publish books of artwork, poetry and short stories, sharing their extremely valuable, but all too often ignored, experiences, views and opinions with the world.

Check out our latest books and find out about them from the authors on The POOR Press Authors Page

To order any of the POOR Press publications (books and CDs) with your credit card or by mail click here to go to the ORDER FORM.

by Staff Writer

Published by POOR Press 2003 ©

Excerpt from The Houzin Project Introduction....

In the Houzin Project , youth, adult and elder poverty scholars from the Bay Area and beyond, through first-person narratives, community journalism, poetryjournalism and visual art have linked the "causes" i.e.; gentrification, displacement, racism and redlining with the "effects"i.e.; eviction, houselessness and the criminalization/corporatization of poverty. These linkages are rarely made when the issue of Homelessness is bandied about by mainstream media, legislators and even the majority of formally educated, institutionally recognized, "scholars" who are asked to speak, write or theorize on the issue of poverty and homelessness.

In the Houzin Project we attempt to strip away the myths of homelessness’s origin, ie, to link the causes of modern day Colonialism (displacement) with its effects. To accomplish this we begin by exploring The Diasporas or what we call the Original Evictions of native peoples, indigenous peoples, poor women and children, poor elders and youth, working-class and communities of color from their land and their neighborhoods.

We examine the role of the artist as default gentrifyer, paving the way for some of the most focused and concentrated gentrification or “clean -up” efforts, such as Venice, California, Oakland and New York, which, after the redevelopment road is paved by the artist, in marches the real estate developers and anti-poor people mayors like Jerry Brown (Oakland) and John Gonzalez (San Jose) and then suddenly , as if by magic, “crime” rise in these areas, or more simply, the media coverage, police reporting and profiling of crime rises. As well, we look at how the economic oppression of communities of color happens through racial and classist banking policies like the redlining of the Bayview Hunters Point district of San Francisco, and how those covert and overt policies lead to economic desta bilization and houselessness of poor folks......

My Tio lived down the block

Until The Strangers came

My Auntie lived upstairs

Until The Strangers came

I lived in my house all my life

Until The Strangers Came

And then we didn’t live

Anywhere

an excerpt from My Friends Lived Next Door - a poem by Lydia, 14, Gentrification survivor in The Houzin Project

by Staff Writer

A POOR Press Publication 2003©

What is a Poverty Hero

What is a hero? What does it mean to perform an act of heroism? Or, to live your life heroically? In Greek religion a hero was a famous
person who after his or her death was worshipped as quasi-divine – noblemen who were valiant fighters. In classic English literature heroes were created as mythical warriors capable of bravery and gallantry. In American literature, Hemingway defined the code hero- as a man who lives correctly following the ideals of honor courage and endurance in a world that is sometimes chaotic, often stressful and always painful.

In our society many people judged by these classical standards have been heroes and heroines- Dr King, Mumia Abu Jamal, Cesar Chavez and Rosa Parks to name a few, enduring and overcoming great odds and achieving great things- but at POOR we have developed a new kind of non-traditional literary hero – the Poverty Hero– the Poverty Hero has also withstood overwhelming obstacles – and achieved great things – but from another lens – in other words – the obstacles might be multiple evictions – homelessness and gentrification- welfare dependency and institutional systems abuse, racial and economic
profiling , incarceration and assault –the heroism could be surviving a life lived in poverty -through an existence fraught with misery and
suffering- the Poverty Hero could be a mother on welfare who has
successfully raised her children – an Abuela in Mexico who borrows the electricity of Sony Corp to power her Tijuana shanty village – a
houseless person who creates art – an elder who is fighting an illegal eviction- a homeless child who helps her mother care for her siblings, in other words, The heroism of survival itself through these great odds.

54 full color pages – with original line art by Ken McGhee-
The Poverty Hero Anthology itself is a work of art

by Staff Writer

Through travels near and far, the Po Cats weave a modern day humorous allegory alternately critiquing and engaging inthe ironic mix of colonialism, travel, indiginismo, racism, ageism and much more....

The Series;

(not sold separately)

Book #1 Hands and Lester's Hawaiian Adventure

Book #2 Hands and Lester in Cherokee Country

Book#3 Hands and Lester at the Orphanage

Book #4 The 75 summers of Hands and Lester

Each book has over 24 full color pages for children and adults of all ages

by Staff Writer

Sheltered in the Wings of Heaven..
an interview with A. Faye Hicks by Lisa Gray-Garcia aka tiny

"Children don’t listen to their parents no-how, but to read my story, to read about my resistance to poverty, through the Word – that’s when my son started resistin’ , started healin’ started listenin to me, his mama’" Rising from half-eaten crackers, a pile of steaming bagels, and a mist of coffee steam was the light emanating from Ms. A. Faye Hicks, Po Poet Laureate of POOR Magazine. The mini-mess hall at POOR headquarters with its harsh florescence could hardly contain the spirit, the power and the glory that was A. Faye. As she spoke, illustrating each consanant with a pinch of southern salt, she used several long limbs of her tall, slim body to underline the crucial points.

Ms. Alice Faye Hicks, an aspiring dress designer, was sporting black skin tight knickers, white tights and low platforms in the current vaguely 17th century send-ups that are all the rage on the runways of Paris and in the streets of Beverly Hills. But A. Faye did not waste her time in such elitist spaces, her fashion ensembles grace the hallways of one of the largest shelters in San Francisco. Ms. A. Faye is currently houseless.

My name is A Faye

I am a Lady of the Shelters.

I am a student and teacher of Life

In Indoor shelter living and Outdoor cardboard shelter living

I have met Hundreds of People

Most with Tragic Stories.

Jailhouse, Sickness..........Mental and Physical

I am all alone

Yet not alone!

Sheltered in the Wings of Heaven!!!!

(from A. fayes "slam bio" a tradition of The Po Poets Project)

"My son was in jail, not doing well, then he read some of my poetry that I wrote in the Po Poets, that’s when he started changing his life, studying for his GED, getting a good job across the Bay, you know healin, cause I think that’s when he started to understand my life – he said, ‘mama you the strongest woman I ever met’, now that’s the power of The Word, that’s the power of resistance"

As I listened to A. Faye recall her son’s catharsis, who grew up with Faye, "in a Section 8 apartment in the only Oakland neighborhood that would rent to us that felt like death row thanks to all the harassment by police of the youth", I was reminded of my own life with my mother, our poverty together and my ability to work through my issues with our life through my own writing. As a formerly houseless, currently at-risk poverty survivor, the first time I was able to write my story and have someone read it – have someone "see" me as something other than a bum, lazy, stupid or "useless" was the first time I felt alive, like there was a reason to go on living….

I asked A. Faye how she first got into the Raising Our Voices (ROV) Program of Media Alliance, which then led to her membership in The Po Poets Project of POOR Magazine,
"I saw a flyer on the wall at St Anthony’s Dining Room while I was eating lunch, and of course I had already met up with Ben (Ben Clarke and myself co-teach creative writing through the ROV Program) when he taught a workshop at Tenderloin reflection Center, so I had some idea of what that poetry writing would be like, but you know, I never did like poetry in high school – poetry was all about flowers, hearts and shakespeare, those things didn’t speak to me…

"How did you feel when POOR nominated you to be the first Po Poet Laureate"

"Well you know I didn’t even know what that word meant til I was nominated so getting that title opened my eyes to a whole new world – I started reading about other writers like Amiri Baraka and Quincey troupe and their experiences with poetry and society…"
I smiled cause POOR launched the Po’ Poet laureate project to seize that lofty literary canon and bestow it on the folk who we consider poverty scholars, and in my mind there was no larger, more deserving poverty scholar than A. Faye

I asked A. Faye about her other dreams, "What about this rumour of you being interested in being a chef "

" Yea I pursued that, " she spit out each word of this curt reply and then after a long pause continued, "but the food industry in San Francisco doesn’t hire older Black women to be Chefs- so I said the hell with you…..but all I wanted to do is something for people and now instead of feeding their stomachs I am feeding their minds…..

"I have always faced obstacles to my dreams – whether it was a dress designer or a chef – writing and publishing my book of poetry is the first dream I have had that came true… a dream that is possible … we should all have our dreams realized… knowing that people read my work ..knowing that I affect people with my words…. Gave me a purpose to being alive…."

by Staff Writer

These Poems are written with wisdom held and
spoken with pride

These poems represent memories of what abuse
has done to a child

.......Byron Gafford

by Staff Writer

“Hey what is your name?
You thought I was lame
Living in the game
Caused me a lot of pain

Now the rules have changed
Your game brought me fame
My spoken word
Is like constant rain
Flooding your brain and driving you insane

Excerpt from Living in the game by Leroy Moore

by Staff Writer

Clean slate

Why is the black man made to feel rejected

Then be thrown into the system

Where he will be misrepresentated

Then eventually he is incarcerated

I'm not making excuses because we're a minority

But why do we make up the majority in prison

Because some of us made the wrong decision

But when we're released and try to do what's right

Our past has become our plight

But we've got God now

And He has shown us the light

Although the world may still treat us mean

Our Lord and Savior has wiped our slate clean

............Marvin Crutchfield

by Staff Writer

Follow the journey through

bio-science, fiction and not to distant futurism

of PNN columnist (Ask Joe - he don’t know,)

Joseph Bolden

by Staff Writer

The Po Poets are poets in poverty
using the Word to Heal, Educate and Relate
How to Survive, Thrive and Stay Alive
through Race and Class OpPresSioN

Featuring over 30 poets locally and nationally

A POOR Press Publication 2003©