The Hibiscus Collective
Beautiful voices of color
Beautiful voices of color
The Hibiscus Collective members Fabu (l-r), Rakina
Muhammad, Nydia Rojas, Jolieth McIntash, Sarah Burns,
Blanca Cruz and Araceli Esparza (right)
Muhammad, Nydia Rojas, Jolieth McIntash, Sarah Burns,
Blanca Cruz and Araceli Esparza (right)
And out of that poem blossomed the name for the group, The Hibiscus Collective. For the past year, the collective has been meeting and organizing
themselves and sharing ideas. And on November 15, the group held their first reading at the Harambee Center. With the exception of Rakina Muhammad who
writes prose, the group writes poetry. One by one, the members got up and read before an appreciative audience. Even Sarah Burns, the daughter of Blanca
Cruz, a collective member, got into the act as she recited a short story that she had written. The audience applauded Burns’ efforts.
The Hibiscus Collective hopes to make the Harambee Center their literary home with poetry and prose readings once per month to give South Madisonians a
venue they can walk to.
Fabu hopes that the collective will create some more opportunities for its members as well. “I think there is a special women’s sensibility, especially since we
are international,” Fabu said noting the diversity of the group. “Other women around the world don’t always have as much freedom as women in America. So that
is important. And even in America, there still are some issues, even in the world of writing where it is men who make the big bucks and men who are famous. It is
not women to the same degree. So we hope to change that. Also in Madison, we needed to have a voice because there are many organizations here that
individually we never heard of and we have never been able to get grants from or ever able to have them help support our work. So now, by forming a collective,
we will be able to utilize the resources that Madison has that heretofore have been unknown to us as individuals.”
What began as a single shoot of thought could flower into a vehicle that will reflect and enhance the literary traditions that lay buried in the cultural humus of
South Madison. And what a beautiful Hibiscus flower it shall be.
People interested in the Hibiscus Collective can e-mail Fabu at blkpoetess68@hotmail.com.
themselves and sharing ideas. And on November 15, the group held their first reading at the Harambee Center. With the exception of Rakina Muhammad who
writes prose, the group writes poetry. One by one, the members got up and read before an appreciative audience. Even Sarah Burns, the daughter of Blanca
Cruz, a collective member, got into the act as she recited a short story that she had written. The audience applauded Burns’ efforts.
The Hibiscus Collective hopes to make the Harambee Center their literary home with poetry and prose readings once per month to give South Madisonians a
venue they can walk to.
Fabu hopes that the collective will create some more opportunities for its members as well. “I think there is a special women’s sensibility, especially since we
are international,” Fabu said noting the diversity of the group. “Other women around the world don’t always have as much freedom as women in America. So that
is important. And even in America, there still are some issues, even in the world of writing where it is men who make the big bucks and men who are famous. It is
not women to the same degree. So we hope to change that. Also in Madison, we needed to have a voice because there are many organizations here that
individually we never heard of and we have never been able to get grants from or ever able to have them help support our work. So now, by forming a collective,
we will be able to utilize the resources that Madison has that heretofore have been unknown to us as individuals.”
What began as a single shoot of thought could flower into a vehicle that will reflect and enhance the literary traditions that lay buried in the cultural humus of
South Madison. And what a beautiful Hibiscus flower it shall be.
People interested in the Hibiscus Collective can e-mail Fabu at blkpoetess68@hotmail.com.
By Jonathan Gramling
The life of a writer can be lonelier than it has to be. While
writing is oftentimes a solo endeavor, a writer needs to be
engaged with life to keep it fresh and real and relevant. And it is
the exchange of ideas and perspectives with other writers that
can give one true insight on one’s work. Fabu, Madison’s poet
laureate, has done her share of networking with other writers of
color though the years, each of them writing in isolation from the
other. When several expressed the desire to form some sort of
writers’ group, Fabu facilitated them coming together and each
of them happened to be a female writer of color.
Nydia Rojas, one of the writers, had written a poem called
Hibiscus Dreams. “The hibiscus flower grows in all parts of the
world, specifically Asia, Africa and the U.S. and the Caribbean,”
Fabu said. “We are a group of multiethnic women and all
beautiful flowers like the hibiscus. It comes in so many colors. It’s
a gorgeous, gorgeous flowering plant.”