My
Lover is a Woman: Contemporary Lesbian Love Poems
These romantic, sensual, poignant, and humorous
poems courageously describe lesbian experience in a way that pays
tribute to the diverse and complex nature of women's
sexuality.
Editor Lesléa Newman has collected the work of
both well-known and emerging poets to create an anthology of some
of the finest writers of any gender or sexual orientation writing
poetry today. The probing fierceness of Adrienne Rich's "Love
Poem," the stirring sensual incantation of Ellen Bass's
"Praise," the intensely felt tenderness of Dorothy
Allison's "Reason Enough to Love You," are just a few
examples of the rich talent displayed in this volume.
These poets have written daring confessions of
love, sorrow, anger, and joy. Each poem is an elaborate
confirmation of the resilience of the human spirit, and the
ability to transform experience--including the struggle against
the societal taboo of same-sex love--into brilliant poetry.
Celebrating the diversity and complexity of
women's relationships, a literary compendium features the work of
more than 120 lesbian poets, including Dorothy Allison, Becky
Birtha, Chrystos, Jewelle Gomez, Judy Grahn, Audre Lorde, Cherrie
Moraga, Pat Parker, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Kate Rushin, Linda Smukler,
Kitty Tsui, Terry Wolverton, Shay Youngblood and many others.
"[An] outstanding collection . . . These
poems are a tribute to the women we've loved and the women we've
lost."
--Lesbian News
"A collection that celebrates the varieties
of the lesbian experience in language that demands to be savored,
to be read aloud. . . . Newman's eye for quality is exquisite; her
selections delight the heart, the mind, the very soul."
--Bay Area Reporter
Lovers'
Choice : Stories by
Becky Birtha
takes the
reader on short trips into the lives of eleven different women.
Through her stories, Becky Birtha creates a sense of continuity by
weaving strength, passion, pain, and ingenuity into each
character. Ms. Moses makes clear that the government doesn't
really help the poor: "Ain't no reason for you to be gaping
at me. I pay my taxes, just like everyone else." Sahara
"never wanted a man...Sometimes it seems she has spent her
whole life finding ways to get close to other people's
children." Camped out under the stars, she thinks back over
those children and opens her heart to yet another one. Maurie
questions her taste in women: "White Anglo-Saxon
Protestants. The Bourgeoisie. What the hell was she doing in love
with someone...like that?" And Johnnieruth, who can ride her
bike as fast as the boys and resents her mother trying to rein her
in because she's a girl, watches in a park as two women greet each
other with a kiss on the lips. For the first time, she sees
herself mirrored. Lover's Choice is unusual in its ability to show
the interconnectedness of eleven separate lives. Becky Birtha
makes the reader care for and relate to each character as an
individual, and as part of the whole that we call woman. -- From 500
Great Books by Women; review by Sharon Canning
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