Reviews (1)

An important personal and political testament
Audre Lorde, a prolific writer of both poetry and prose, is regarded by many (myself included) as a major figure in both African-American and lesbian literature. "A Burst of Light" is one of her important prose works. The book contains an interview, three short essays, and a lengthy collection of excerpts from the journal she kept during her battle against cancer.Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. African American lesbians    3. Biography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Breast    6. Cancer    7. Essays    8. Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - General    9. Lesbian Studies    10. Lorde, Audre    11. Nonfiction    12. Nonfiction - General    13. Patients    14. Poets, American    15. Social conditions    16. United States   

Subjects:  1. 1911-1979    2. 20th century    3. Biography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Bishop, Elizabeth,    7. Bishop, Elizabeth, 1911-1979    8. Friends and associates    9. Interviews    10. Literary    11. Poets, American    12. Biography: general    13. Bishop, Elizabeth    14. English    15. Lesbian studies    16. Poetry & poets: from c 1900 -    17. USA   

Subjects:  1. African American lesbians    2. African Americans    3. American - General    4. General    5. Lesbians    6. Literary collections    7. Poetry    8. Poetry / Single Author / General   

Reviews (1)

The Key to Everything...
Have you ever been searching for the perfect words to catch her interest? or her heart?You'll find them here. "I offer you Persimmons"a poem of possibilities."The Western Union Lady" makes me laughand wonder who I might send the same telegram to. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anthologies (multiple authors)    2. Lesbian    3. Lesbians' writings    4. Love poetry    5. Poetry    6. Poetry / General    7. Works by individual poets: from c 1900 -   

Reviews (1)

A Basic Book in Understanding Lesbian Culture
I can't believe no one else has reviewed this book. This is Grahn's exploration of lesbian poetry. She has said that it started out as a chapter in "Another Mother Tongue" but grew too large. If you have ever wondered why lesbians are called "lesbians" then you will know why after finishing this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American poetry    2. History and criticism    3. Homosexuality and literature    4. Lesbians' writings, American    5. Poetry    6. Sexuality In Literature    7. United States    8. Women authors    9. Influence    10. Sappho   

Editorial Review

The school of fish mentioned in the title poem of this book live at the bottom of the sea, but are somehow addicted to light. In her ninth book, Eileen Myles writes about the longing for light, for passion and decency, in a world diminished by death and dulled by forgetfulness. At the center of this powerful volume is an essay called "The Lesbian Poet," which Myles delivered at the Revolutionary Poetry Symposium at St Mark's Poetry Project in 1994. In this important, provocative essay Myles claims both male and female poets among her lesbian forebears. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. City and town life    3. Lesbians    4. Poetry    5. Women    6. Works by individual poets: from c 1900 -   

Reviews (3)

Another Mother Tongue: Fluent, Fluid & Integral
Another Mother Tongue: Fluent, Fluid & Integral Another Mother Tongue: fluent and holy
Judy Grahn's book is one of the most important books I've ever read.It may well be one of the most important books ever written, at the very least having to do with gay life.It is a luminous tapestry of cultural history, folklore and autobiography woven with superlative skill in which is recounted nearly everything of importance about us as a people: who we are, where we've come from, where we're likely headed, and why we are special.The product of over a decade of research, the author has done nothing less than retrieve our entire suppressed history, our folklore, our pantheons of deities, our heritage, our heros and our glorious language - another mother tongue.Among the most critically important things we learn (or are reminded of) by Grahn's epochal work is that our tradition is an old one - a very, very old one, and that it is continuous thanks to the work of our spiritual ancestors (our first lover's first lover's first lover), that it crosses national and hemispheric boundaries and that it has spiritual roots. Grahn also reminds us of the intense, unrelenting degree of suppression to which the matrix heterosexist culture has gone (and may be prepared to go again) to marginalize our tradition.The author relates in her notes how, of all of the moving events that followed the initial publication of AMT in 1984 the most moving was her encounter with a Maori lesbian warrior in New Zealand, who fell weeping into her arms because she at last could see and understand the meaning of her life story.Having read, and re-read this volume, I know just how that woman felt.Judy Grahn has returned to our collective consciousness secret, sacred things long kept within the "racial memory."This she has done in a beautifully readable fashion.Judy Grahn knows all of the old stories, and she knows the signs and the persuasions - all of them - that are the spiritial patrimony of our people. This is a book to be loved, and that deserves to be read and read again.

almost perfect history of gay culture
Judy Grahn has deftly researched the subject of homosexual culture, both lesbian and gay. She demystifies the sources of popularly exepted "gay" language and mores'. She also clearly defines the originalplace of the gay male and the lesbian womin in herstory as well as history.A thorougly good read and an educational groundwork for anyone curious-forany reason-about homosexual culture. An impressive peice of work that Ihighly recommend! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Gay Studies    2. Homosexuality    3. Lesbian Studies    4. Lesbianism    5. Lesbians    6. Miscellanea    7. Poetry    8. Sociology    9. Terminology    10. Gay & Lesbian studies    11. Social Science / Women's Studies   

Reviews (2)

Simply Love
I have read the equisite poetry in this book five times in the last week.The words are simple.The emotions deep.It is about love.Simply that.It transcends all love and reaches levels in the heart and soul that take you to the core of any relationship.The joy.The pain.The anguish.The simple gifts we can give each other if we so allow.I have felt all of these emotions.I have cried.I have smiled. I have laughed outloud.I am not a lesbian. It makes no difference. But I have loved.I have loved and lost. I have loved and gained.Laura shows us in such a simple, heart rendering way that we are all the same.Each and every one of us require love.

Universal love poems
The poetry of "Lesbian Love and Heartache" is universal; it transcends
Read more

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. Poetry    3. 20th Century American Poetry    4. American Contemporary Poetry    5. Lesbian    6. Lesbians    7. Love poetry, American    8. Single Author - American (General)   

Editorial Review

Pat Califia is well known as a sexual pioneer whose essays and fictions have encouraged lesbians to explore and discuss a wider range of erotic experience. In this book, her first volume of poetry, Califia gives voice--in the form of brief lyrics and more developed dramatic monologues--to the rebels and outlaws she has written about as a theorist. The women in these poems are tough, funny, often working class dykes who howl in anger, rage, and ecstasy about the power of sex, the sex of power, and not a few controversies between. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

very slinky and kind of scary at the same time
This book slinks! I'm a 16 year old baby dyke from Madison, Wisconsin. It's got a lot of S/M stuff, which kind of put me off at first, cos I'm quite vanilla. Still, it's a great book and I read one poem over and overagain. That would "Only You Can Kiss Like This." I shared it withmy lover and she really liked it too. I love Califia's imagery. At firstI"d only heard of her as a sex columnist in a lesbian magazine and Iwas happily surprised to hear she writes poetry as well.

Diesel Fuel is true dyke poetry.
Pat states in "Diesel Fuel," "If I have a vocation, it is to combat sexual shame by speaking as much truth as I know about what really happens in the realm of Eros, and Diesel Fuel is one more record of that calling."Read more

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. Fiction    3. Lesbians    4. Poetry    5. Literature of special Lesbian interest    6. Modern fiction    7. Lesbian    8. Sadomasochism   

Subjects:  1. 1869-1928    2. 19th century    3. 20th Century English Poetry    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    9. General    10. Great Britain    11. Lesbians    12. Literary    13. Mew, Charlotte Mary,    14. Poets, English    15. Women In Literature    16. Mew, Charlotte Mary   

Editorial Review

This book gathers the work of more than 100 female poets, of primarily British and American descent, since the 17th century. Emma Donoghue's astute introductory essay suggests a coherent tradition between the poetry of pre-20th-century romantic friendships and explicit contemporary lesbian poetry. She includes work by well-known writers such as Aphra Behn, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Adrienne Rich, and Audre Lorde, and also introduces the work of lesser-known historical writers. The brief biographies of the poets at the end of the book illustrate not only the varied backgrounds of these writers working outside the mainstream, but also the kinds of networks and alliances they formed to sustain one another. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Treasure Trove
this book is fabulous! Emma Donoghue's introduction provides fascinatingcontextual information, guiding the reader through attitudes toward lovebetween women from the late 1660s to the early 1990s. The poems themselvesfairly leap off the page with lives of their own.Donoghue selected poemswhich are quite accessible and widely varied.I did have some troublegetting past the melodrama of some of the earlier work, but once I did, Idiscovered many, many truly delightful poems illuminating the myriadaspects of women's love for one another.At the end of the book is asection of biographical notes about the poets which is intriguing on itsown.This volume would be an asset to anyone's library. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American poetry    2. Anthologies (multiple authors)    3. English poetry    4. Gay & Lesbian    5. Lesbians' writings, American    6. Love poetry, English    7. Poetry    8. Sexuality In Literature    9. Women Authors    10. Literary Criticism & Collections / Gay & Lesbian    11. Poetry & poets   

Reviews (1)

A Summary of Sappho's Lyre
"Sappho's Lyre", written by Diane J. Rayor, is sensationally crafted in chronological order to afford today's modern audience the ability to understand and appreciate the lyrics of ancient Greek poetry.This volume is significant as it includes the works of all the ancient women poets together in one book for the first time ever.Along with the works of the seventeen poets who composed various genres of lyric poetry over 2500 years ago, "Sappho's Lyre" includes an introduction and notes section to explain the characters as well as the history of events taking place during the time each of the poets' lyrics are composed.These poets use their lyrics and musical instruments as a way of communicating the events and feelings of the individuals and their communities during the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods.Diane Rayor does an extraordinary job of explaining in modern day language the growth and development of ancient poetry. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Ancient and Classical    2. General    3. Greece    4. Greek poetry    5. Literary Criticism    6. Poetry    7. Translations into English    8. Women and literature    9. Women authors    10. Ancient (Classical) Greek    11. History / Ancient / General    12. Lesbian studies    13. Literary studies: classical, early & medieval   

Reviews (1)

Pleasantly Surprised
I read this book because I was curious.Sandra McPherson, Alfred Corn, and Marvin Bell (the three judges who chose this book as the Lamont Poetry selection) are all accomplished poets, and I wondered how they had come to choose a book published by a small, feminist press like Firebrand books.I wasn't sure what to expect, but I ended up pleasantly surprised.Read more

Subjects:  1. American    2. American - General    3. General    4. Lesbian Studies    5. Poetry    6. Poetry texts & anthologies   

Reviews (1)

The working class speaks!
Joanna Kadi has written a thoughtful and challenging book that examines her life experiences in a larger social and political context.Kadi's commentary is refreshingly even-keeled as it criticizes a society that, across the political spectrum, marginalizes and misrepresents the cultures and voices of the working class.Mainstream "progressives" may find themselves nodding their heads vigorously at some points but challenged by others.They don't teach this stuff in the diversity seminars at liberal arts colleges (although if Kadi had her way, they just might). ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Arab American women    2. Arab Americans    3. Biography    4. Kadi, Joanna    5. Lesbian Studies    6. Minority Studies - Ethnic American    7. Sociology    8. Sociology - Social Theory    9. United States    10. Working class lesbians    11. American English    12. Poetry & poets: from c 1900 -    13. Political Science / General    14. Sociology, Social Studies   

Subjects:  1. 1911-1979    2. 20th century    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Bishop, Elizabeth - Poems & Criticism    8. Bishop, Elizabeth,    9. General    10. Historical - U.S.    11. Literary    12. Poets, American    13. Women    14. Biography: general    15. Bishop, Elizabeth    16. English    17. Lesbian studies    18. Literary Criticism & Collections / General    19. Poetry & poets: from c 1900 -    20. USA   

Reviews (1)

YES!
This is a book to be read cover to cover...the poems progress that way, weaving in and out of personal experience to Edgewater, (both lake and metaphor), and back to personal experience again.And what experience!!!That of a sensitivity most deeply in touch with the world and the heart.A sensitivity that accepts life's hard places and embraces its wonderments. An unflinching sensuality. Always brave, always loving, these poems should be taken on a walk, or read in a forest, or on a beach or on a plane.You should readthem and read them again (I have), because they say what you have always wanted to say and couldn't. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. General    3. Lesbian    4. Poetry    5. Poetry / General   

Subjects:  1. English Contemporary Poetry    2. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    3. Literature - Classics / Criticism    4. Poetry    5. Popular English Fiction    6. Collections & anthologies of various literary forms    7. English    8. Modern fiction   

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. Interpersonal Relations    3. Lesbian    4. Poetry    5. Poetry / Single Author / American    6. American    7. Modern fiction    8. Risk-taking (Psychology)   

Editorial Review

This comprehensive and feminine collection of poems gives evidence to what women have always known in their souls--that even though male poets are most often quoted as the heaven-blessed wordsmiths, women have always sung exquisite songs of divine praise, passion, and yearning. Editor and Pulitzer-Prize nominee Aliki Barnstone is a poet in her own right, and because of this she brings a keen literary eye to her selections. Since the volume reads in chronological order, it begins with Enheduanna (ca. 2300 BCE), who calls to the "moon goddess" Innanna. "We sing, mourn, and cry before you/and walk toward you along a path/from the house of enormous sighs." Every poem offers pause for reflection and is bound to stir enormous sighs of appreciation. Moving through centuries and millennia, Barnstone has included famous poets (Hildegarde of Bingen, Denise Levertov, Linda Hogan, Anne Sexton, Louise Erdrich) with the more obscure but equally divine. Read more

Subjects:  1. Inspirational & Religious    2. Poetry    3. Religious life    4. Religious poetry    5. Social Science    6. Sociology    7. Spiritual life    8. Women    9. Women authors    10. Women's Studies - General    11. Lesbian studies    12. Mind, body, spirit: mysticism & self-awareness    13. Poetry / Inspirational & Religious    14. Poetry texts & anthologies   

Reviews (4)

Great Book!
This is a truly touching book about two women overcoming their pasts and loving each other.As a child, Macy has a crazy mother who runs away for a few days with the butcher whenever things get tough around the house.Macy and her first love, Maybelline discover their love for each other.Macy lives through the loss of her first love by living in her house and taking care of her while attending nursing school. Lyrical, suspenseful love story
This lyrical, beautifully wrought love story between two women, Dotty and Macy, kept me involved long after I'd read the last page. They are trying to make a true, meaningful connection for the first time in their lives, after escaping homes tainted by abuse, mental illness, and catastrophe. Macy (who has taken on the role of home nurse and lover, a role fraught with peril) feeds Dotty just a few too many pain pills. As the issues between Dotty and Macy come to a head, they confront their pasts. This was my favorite part of the novel, a lovely suspense fed not by "What comes next" but by "What happened? Who are these people?" To me, it's the difference between eating a homemade chocolate cake, where you savor every bit, and rushing through a Hostess cupcake because you're late for work. Their pasts unfold as unique mosaics combined with the perfect amount of the surreal. As they confront their pasts, they confront their issues in the present through a deep, almost Jungian exploration of their inner selves. The novel asks hard-to-answer questions.Can they possibly break the patterns they've established to form an equal partnership, make a true connection? But that question is the universal question--can we break free from our pasts?--and so I keep coming back to it, months after having finished the book. I strongly recommend this novel.

Electric love
When Dotty falls from a ladder, she is brought into the hospital where Macy works. Macy lives at the house Dotty was painting. Macy becomes Dotty's nurse after she leaves the hospital, and the two embark on a love affair. The past histories of both women creep back into their lives and threaten to destroy what's being born. Schutzer's circular and nonlinear story is full of potent writing and moving descriptions of the past pain and vivid silences both women have endured. And the surprise connection between Dotty and Macy is beautifully crafted. Schutzer's style reminded me a bit of Scott Heim, but not as dark. Any reader who's a fan of such emotionally charged works as Emma Donoghue's "Hood" and Alison Green's "Half-moon Scar" will adore this novel. This is one of my favorite novels of 2000! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accident victims    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - General    4. House painters    5. Lesbian    6. Lesbians    7. Nurses    8. Poetry    9. Fiction / General