q. r. hand,

                                               Poet and Healer

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q. r. hand was a man of many caps. He danced as easily as he walked.

We begin with q. r. among musicians in the first Rebel Poets' compilation, the cassette album Worlds Made Flesh, 1989. q. was among San Francisco Bay Area poets whom I'd

asked to read their work at Olde West Studio. Their poetry and performance was of a fire and excellence deserving global attention, I felt. Next step was involving the superlative percussionists, Babatunde Lea on congas and Henri Flood on timbales, to improvise beats in accord with the poets' content and delivery. Final step, that Summer

of '89, was bringing musicians on other instruments for their responses to poets' recorded tracks. Here, John Baker on keyboards, David Blood on electric guitar, Mark Crawford on drums-set, George Cremaschi on fretless bass, and Lewis Jordan on tenor saxophone play with q.r.'s poem of tribute and with Babatunde Lea's and Henri Flood's rhythms.

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q. looks to Africa and speaks in respect for Blacks' and Browns' struggle

in apartheid South Africa.

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1. 'today africa, for Willie Kgotsitsile'

with Babatunde Lea congas, Henri Flood timbales, John Baker keyboards,

David Blood electric guitar, Mark Crawford drums-set, George Cremaschi fretless bass, Lewis Jordan tenor saxophone.

from Rebel Poets' Worlds Made Flesh, 1989, San Francisco.

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q. r. hand was of a build and temperament fit for slim jeans, vests, and T-shirts of Florentine blue and goyave. He was intensely sympathetic. He could inhabit sea-lions and distant generations. His group of young activists in New York City hosted and venerated Malcolm X / El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.

The righteous present called to him. He planted his feet and spoke as if in prayer to the microphone. He raised one forefinger to the stars.

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2. 'our hemisphere'

with Babatunde Lea congas, Henri Flood timbales, John Baker keyboards,

David Blood electric guitar, Mark Crawford drums-set, George Cremaschi fretless bass, Lewis Jordan tenor saxophone.

from Rebel Poets' Worlds Made Flesh, I/R, 1989, San Francisco.

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q. r. was forever encouraging and enthusiastic and yet he never lowered standards. He counseled those struggling in institutions and on streets of San Francisco. He ooh’ed and ahh’ed at the spectacularly accomplishing--such as the feats he and John Ross saw in N.B.A. playoffs. He and Alfonso Texidor introduced me to two great, dynamic poets and performers, devorah major and Daniel Higgs, and both q. r and Alfonso generously dug devorah's and Daniel's contributions to the second, 1992 Rebel Poets' compilation, America Fears The Drum.

q. r. hunkered at a front table for jazz saxophonists and drummers. He wrote that you would need a jet to stay with David Murray's sound. 

He loved to collaborate and to improvise. The WordWind Chorus of q. r. and Brian Auerbach and Lewis Jordan and Reginald Lockett was of decades' standing. q. r. knew that in blending together their individual strains his people and all people might achieve optimal voicings.

Reginald Lockett wrote about his friend:

'Q.R. Hand’s poetry traverses the terrain of form, music, and language. This is an inspired, well crafted poetry that is political in intent and spirited in execution and defies any comparison to any literary precursors or contemporary schools of thought. Q.R. Hand is an entity unto himself; a true visionary walks among us.'

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