FIERCE LOVE: STORIES FROM BLACK GAY LIFE
In Fierce Love–“fierce” used both as slang for “fabulous” as well as the more usual definition of “intense”–there are no absolutes, political or personal. “We are an endangered species,” Branner says. He’s talking about being gay and being black but also about the fragile condition of being human. The wonder here is that, even though the Pomos speak to and for black gay men, as an audience–no matter our own demographics–we can take what we need. There’s enough to go around.
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The first third of the show, which seems primarily concerned with the process of coming out, ends with Freeman’s “Sad Young Man,” a loosely autobiographical monologue in which he comically describes a life of alienation. Here Freeman calls forth a host of influences, from Angela Davis to Johnny Mathis, which help define who he is as a black gay man.
