Physicality and Crudeness

As I read Wallace Thurman’s “Cordelia the Crude,” the first short story in FIRE!!, I became interested in the relationship the story established between what is physical and what is “crude.” I traced the appearance of the word “physical” and images of physicality in order to examine the story’s tone with regard to physicality. I…

Death Bed Identity

Waring Cuney, one of the contributors of poetry to the October-31st-published issue of FIRE!!, speaks in “The Death Bed” of a black man’s thoughts as his life is coming to a close, upon the bed the title deems his death bed.  Upon their deathbeds, it is common for individuals to reflect upon their identities, molded…