Prose from Poetry Magazine

Ephemera

BY Melvin Dixon

Originally Published: April 01, 2024
Handwritten poem 'Place, Places' by Melvin Dixon
An early handwritten draft of Melvin Dixon’s poem “Place, Places,” 1979. The rewriting of the first stanzas demonstrates Dixon’s evolution of thought as he wrote and revised.

 

'Place, Places' by Melvin Dixon, typeset with handwritten notes
A typed draft of Melvin Dixon’s poem “Place, Places,” 1979. The typed draft evolved from the handwritten page, showing pen markings by Dixon as he revised toward a final draft.

 

Handwritten list including entrance hall, dining room, pantry, and kitchen. A note in the top right says 1st floor
Melvin Dixon’s handwritten plans for renovation of a first floor.

 

Handwritten list including stairway, center hall, and living room. A note in the top right says 2nd floor
Melvin Dixon’s handwritten plans for renovation of a second floor.

 

Handwritten list including study/den/guest room, wet bar and bath, and deck. A note in the top right says 3rd floor
Melvin Dixon’s handwritten plans for renovation of a third floor.

 

A colorful quilt with names and dates
Stitched together by Melvin Dixon’s sister, Deanna Dixon, each patch in this AIDS memorial quilt celebrates the life of a person who died of AIDS-related causes. Melvin Dixon, his longtime partner Richard Horovitz, and Dixon’s brother Christopher Dixon are represented here. Christopher Dixon was a painter, and his painting, Untitled (1991), seen on the right side of his patch, became the cover art for Melvin Dixon’s posthumously published collection  Love’s Instruments (Tia Chucha Press, 1995).

This ephemera is part of the portfolio “Melvin Dixon: I’ll Be Somewhere Listening for My Name.” All items except for the AIDS quilt are from the Melvin Dixon papers at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, © Melvin Dixon and used with permission of the author’s estate. You can read the rest of the portfolio in the April 2024 issue.

Scholar, novelist, and poet Melvin Dixon was born in Stamford, Connecticut. He earned a BA from Wesleyan University and an MA and a PhD from Brown University. Dixon wrote the poetry collections Change of Territory (1983) and Love’s Instruments (1995, published posthumously) and two novels, Trouble the Water (1989), winner of a Nilon Award for Excellence in Minority Fiction, and Vanishing Rooms (1991...

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