Funeral Diva is the self-portrait of a woman who our society does its very best to ignore: black, queer, statuesque, outspoken. But this particular woman, Pamela Sneed, will not be silenced. There is a fierce urgency to these pages. To quote Arthur Miller, “Attention must be paid.” And it’s about time.
The book begins in the nineteen-eighties, coming of age in a time of Luther Vandross, Toni Morrison, The Pyramid, and iconoclastic queer role models–many of whom will die of AIDS. It is an Oddyssean journey, a vision quest which leads to Cape Coast Castle. Even through her youthfully cynical eyes, Ms. Sneed can’t help but see something profound here:
There is something monumental at least there was for me, standing in Cape Coast Castle, looking from The Door of No Return onto the Atlantic Ocean. There is something about seeing the first leg of our real journey and the enormous ocean we crossed.
The world will not look the same to her after this.
The next phase of her life gives this book its title. It is also, for this queer reader, the most moving. Here Ms. Sneed poignantly describes the deaths of these young, brilliant queer iconoclasts. Not long after that, she becomes a staple in their funerals–her 6’2″ frame, a familiar sight.
Most of this book is written in verse–underscoring its urgency. The subjects she explores are varied: Winnie Mandela, Beyonce, Ntozake Shange (undeniably an influence ), Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, George Floyd. Also: The Black Panther, Planet of the Apes, and the parallels between AIDS and COVID. All of these she writes about in a simple, direct, yet lyrical style that is all her own.
Clearly Pamela Sneed has earned our attention.
Pamela Sneed’s Funeral Diva is published by City Lights Books.
12/3/2020
UPDATE 6/1/21: Tonight it was announced that Funeral Diva has won Lambda Literary’s Lesbian Poetry Award. Congratulations, Pamela Sneed!