Hold Tight Gently (19 page)

Essex Hemphill, the young poet (photo © Sharon Farmer/sfphotoworks)

Poster announcement of an early gig at d.c. space (courtesy of Michelle Parkerson)

Denver Conference, 1983—left to right: Tom Nasrallah, Bobbi Campbell, Rich Berkowitz, Mike Callen, and Artie Felson (photo courtesy of Richard Dworkin)

Mike the city gardener, circa 1984; rooftop on Duane Street in New York (photo courtesy of Richard Dworkin)

The band Lowlife using the men’s room, circa 1984—left to right: Mike Callen, Pam Brandt, Janet Cleary, and Richard Dworkin (photo courtesy of Richard Dworkin)

“Poets, Artists, Musicians, Friends” having dinner at the Iron Gate Restaurant in Washington, D.C., May 6, 1986—left to right: Jewelle Gomez, Cheryl Clarke, Colin Robinson, Essex Hemphill, Ray Melrose, Craig Harris, Elizabeth Ziff, Wayson Jones, and Joyce Wellman (photo © Sharon Farmer/sfphotoworks)

A performance at the Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, August 9, 1986—left to right: Brenda Files, Larry Duckett, M’lafi Thompson, Chris Prince, Michelle Parkerson, Wayson Jones, and Essex Hemphill (photo © Sharon Farmer/sfphotoworks)

AmFar benefit at the Javits Center, New York City, April 29, 1986—left to right (front row): Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Grace Jones, Elizabeth Taylor, Calvin Klein, Michael Callen, Mariel Hemingway, and Michael Vollbract (photo by Richard Corkery)

Gay Pride March, New York City, June 6, 1986—left to right, unidentified man, Michael Hirsch, David Summers, Sal Licata, and Michael Callen (photo by Jane Rosett)

Richard and Mike, 1988 (photo courtesy of Richard Dworkin)

Michael Callen at the Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, 1988 (photo by Jane Rosett)

A party at Mathilde Krim’s house honoring Joe Sonnabend, 1988—left to right: Michael Callen, Joe Sonnabend, Mathilde Krim, Harley Hackett, and Richard Berkowitz (photo courtesy of Richard Dworkin)

Michael and Richard under the CRI banner at the Christopher Street celebration following the 1989 New York City Gay Pride March (photo courtesy of Richard Dworkin)

Mike also required a rest. He’d been going nonstop, writing, organizing, arguing, petitioning, testifying—as well as demanding every step of the way, as one interviewer put it, “that we [gay people] see beyond our own needs to include women and the poor and health care issues of concern to every American.” Homophobia and racism, he insisted, were not unrelated: “We are beginning to see that a Haitian infant dying in poverty in the South Bronx and the death of a middle-class gay man in Manhattan are sadly but undeniably interconnected.”