HELP HATTIE GET OUT OF THIS WHEELCHAIR!

Our sister hattie gossett—poet, warrior woman, mother of spoken word, Harlem diva—took a bad fall in her apartment—hitting her head, cracking it open, losing consciousness, laying on the floor undiscovered for over 24 hours, and sustaining a concussion. That was in the third week of May.

She was hospitalized, then moved to rehab. Complications sent her back to the hospital, followed by more rehab—including extensive daily physical and occupational therapy. She is wheelchair-bound but making steady progress toward using a walker.

She was released from rehab on August 15th.

She needs funds to continue PT and other health services, pay mounting co-pays, and additional costs not covered by insurance.

We’re calling on all lovers of poetry, revolution, laughter, music, performance, community, Black women’s voices, and Black women’s power to help raise desperately needed funds for our vibrant 81-year-old sister hattie, who is still writing all the time and has plans for future publications and performances.

Why it Matters (besides the obvious)

Hattie is a generous, powerful, feminist foremother whose artistic work over the decades cuts across multiple audiences and disciplines.

barbara smith, audre lorde, cherríe moraga, and hattie

photo credit: Joan E. Biren (c) JEB

For the 2017-2018 season, The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater re-staged Shelter, which included hattie’s poem on homelessness, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place at the Intersection of Reduced Resources and Reverberating Rage." Choreographed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and originally performed by Urban Bush Women in the late 1980s, AAADT first performed it in 1992. Here is a clip of a recent performance that features hattie’s words read by the incomparable Carl Hancock Rux.

I also want to take a moment to talk about what hattie has meant to me personally. She is one of the soul sisters who shaped my understanding and helped me navigate the New York (and East Coast) political performance landscape during the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. She is a dear friend, and I value the mid-20th century foundation of her afro-futuristic sight. AND she is one of the Dora Milaje warriors who re-captured my stolen 1960s Gibson guitar in a sting operation fit for the big screen! Hattie is our bad-ass warrior-woman-poet sister, cousin, mother, auntie, grandmother.

For decades, the profound artistic critiques of this award-winning poet have given our world light and sanity in dark and crazy times. Now it’s time for us to spread light and sanity to her.

Please give what you can. No amount is too small. Really. No amount is too large.

Donations $100.00 and over are tax-deductible!

Per hattie's direction, all funds collected here will be managed by Peter Hale, Committee on Poetry, Inc. who distributes them to her directly.

Help spread the word. It makes a difference! Please share this link with your community.

Significant tax-deductible donations (over $2500) can be made payable to:

Committee on Poetry, Inc.

PO Box 582

New York, NY 10009

212-358-9534

Attn: Peter Hale

Please write "hattie gossett fund" in the check memo

The Committee on Poetry, Inc (501-C3) is a wonderful organization that is helping by receiving these funds for hattie.

More about hattie

Reviews & Criticism

· New York Times: "hauntingly poetic."

· Village Voice: "diva deluxe .... intellectual godmother of rap artists."

· Essence: "sassy, ironic, hilarious, profound observations of urban life."

· Publishers Weekly: "a collection of considerable potency and authority."

· Art Forum: "like albert camus she faces the clash of cultures with a hardwon laugh; like billie holiday she taps into the vitality of the blues as a survival mechanism."

· New York Voice: "never a dull moment."

· Outweek "tight and polished."

· Amazon.com "Hattie Gossett has tempered what could be considered a bellicose insanity with biting creativity to arrive at this collection of sharp critiques on the world she inhabits. She understands and resents being "a female wage slave who has had a lifetime of mostly thankless jobs and who wants out of the rat race while she still has enough creativity left to breathe life into the projects she has been dreaming."

Awards

· David Randolph Distinguished Artist-In-Residence at The New School University.

· Ms. Foundation Award.

· Yip Harburg Fellowship at NYU

· New York Foundation for the Arts Fiction Fellowship.

· J.T. Stewart Residency Award, Hedgebrook.

· Jerome Foundation.

· N.Y.C. Department of Cultural Affairs.

· N.Y. State Council on The Arts.

· Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

WITH GRATITUDE!