One of two collections of poetry by poet, novelist, and educator Melvin Dixon, whose worked chronicled the lives of black gay men. He died of HIV-related illnesses in 1992.
Scholar, novelist, and poet MELVIN DIXON penned, in addition to Love's Instruments, the poetry collection Change of Territory and the novels Trouble the Water (1989), which won a Nilon Award for Excellence in Minority Fiction, and Vanishing Rooms (1991). Influenced by James Baldwin, Dixon wrote extensively about the complexities of being a gay black man. A recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, he taught at Wesleyan University, the City University of New York, Fordham University, Columbia University, and Williams College. He died from complications related to AIDS at age 42 in 1992.
