{"id":2247,"date":"2012-01-14T13:19:30","date_gmt":"2012-01-14T18:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sistahsontheshelf.com\/blog\/?p=2247"},"modified":"2020-05-09T01:09:02","modified_gmt":"2020-05-09T05:09:02","slug":"the-bull-jean-stories-by-sharon-bridgforth-jan-2012-pick-of-the-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/?p=2247","title":{"rendered":"the bull-jean stories by Sharon Bridgforth (Jan. 2012 Pick of the Month)"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Publisher\/Date:\u00a0<\/strong> Red Bone Press, Aug. 1998
\nGenre:\u00a0<\/strong> Poetry
\nPages:\u00a0<\/strong> 109
\n Website:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0http:\/\/www.sharonbridgforth.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong> \"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"★\" <\/p><\/strong><\/p>\n

na\/i\u2019s a wo\u2019mn<\/em><\/strong>
\nwhats Lovved many wy\u2019mns.<\/em><\/strong>
\nme\/they call me bull-dog-jean i say<\/em><\/strong>
\nthat\u2019s cause i works lik somekinda ole dog<\/em><\/strong>
\ntrying to get a bone or two<\/em><\/strong>
\nthey say it\u2019s cause i be sniffing after wy\u2019mns<\/em><\/strong>
\ndown-low\/beggin and thangs<\/em><\/strong>
\nwhatever.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

the bull-jean stories<\/em><\/strong>, written by accomplished author and playwright Sharon Bridgforth, is a Southern-fried poetic masterpiece. Like bites of mama\u2019s golden fried chicken, the words coat your pallet with a flavor that warms the soul. The rhythm of Bridgforth\u2019s tale of a rough-talkin\u2019, blue-collar bulldagga in the 1920s likens itself to prose that creates a vivid love story.<\/p>\n

bull-jean is a willing participant in love, as narrated by neighbor Cuss. Cuss watches and reports every bull-jean sighting with the expressiveness of an old lady busybody. Through her eyes, we see bull-jean fall in love faster than greased lightning, having no problem expressing her feelings to the one she loves.<\/p>\n

am asking you to be my wo\u2019mn<\/em><\/strong>
\nwhole and complete in all essence<\/em><\/strong>
\ni want to make this journey\/this Life<\/em><\/strong>
\nwid you i want to wake<\/em><\/strong>
\nto the smell of your hair\/the taste<\/em><\/strong>
\nof your neck each morning\/i<\/em><\/strong>
\nwant you curled in to me so i can<\/em><\/strong>
\nturn you open\/to the<\/em><\/strong>
\nlight of your eyes<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Every chapter is a lesson learned because bull-jean can\u2019t find the right woman. She becomes enamored with the wrong ones, and never feels like she\u2019ll love again. It\u2019s a place we\u2019ve all been, and Bridgforth tells it with such devotion and passion.<\/p>\n

By the book\u2019s end, we witness a woman who had to go through to get it right. Short but sweet, Bridgforth\u2019s writing captures the black lesbian song of the South, a time when being gay or black wasn\u2019t a desirable status to the powers that be. Yet, bull-jean was not ashamed, just a woman who lived her life and sacrificed and took care of the people she loved.<\/p>\n

the bull-jean stories<\/em> has a blues, spiritual and inspirational soundtrack, one that sheds light on our history and reminds us our kind of love has been around for generations \u2013 but it\u2019s still the same refrain.<\/p>\n

Reviewed January 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Publisher\/Date:\u00a0 Red Bone Press, Aug. 1998 Genre:\u00a0 Poetry Pages:\u00a0 109 Website:\u00a0\u00a0http:\/\/www.sharonbridgforth.com na\/i\u2019s a wo\u2019mn whats Lovved many wy\u2019mns. me\/they call me bull-dog-jean i say that\u2019s cause i works lik somekinda ole dog trying to get a bone or two they say it\u2019s cause i be sniffing after wy\u2019mns down-low\/beggin and thangs whatever. the bull-jean stories, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[4,17],"tags":[44,107,308,310,366,374,401,432,458,460],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2247"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2247"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7392,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2247\/revisions\/7392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}