Originally published in 1971, I’m Off to See the Goddamn Wizard, Alright! is described by Diane Bogus, later known as SDiane, as “a collection of first poems for black people and those to whom it may concern.” Bogus writes: “The wizard to whom I refer is sometimes the ominous ‘they’ I use repeatedly in my book. ‘They’ are white people. Sometimes the wizard is an untruth, an unreality, a misbelief; however, for the most part, the wizard is any and all myths perpetrated by white people and tenaciously, without question, adhered to by Blacks.” The “wizard behind the curtain” represents the struggle of Black feminists as they articulate the truth of their lived experiences to dispel oppressive beliefs.
By Diane Bogus
Cover illustration, I’m Off to See the Goddamn Wizard, Alright!, by Diane Bogus (aka SDiane Bogus), circa 1971, Carton 14:15, Woman in the Moon Publications records, BANC MSS 2003/105 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
