and on a soft beddelicateyou would let loose your longing and neither any[ ]nor anyholy place norwas there from which we were absent no grove[ ]no dance ]no sound [ One of the few (almost) complete poems we have still resonates today: He seems to me equal to the gods that man whoever he is who opposite you sits and listens close to your sweet speaking and lovely laughing—oh it puts the heart in my chest on wings for when I look at you, even a moment, no speaking is left in me no: tongue breaks and thin fire is racing under skin and in eyes no sight and drumming fills ears and cold sweat holds me and shaking grips me all, greener than grass I am and dead—or almost I seem to me. But all is to be dared, because even a person of poverty . . . (Both translated by Anne Carson in If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho) Sappho is the foundation of queer women literature, including giving us the words lesbian and sapphic, but lesbian poetry books have in general been some of the first explicitly lesbian books published through time. For the Courtesan Ch’ing Lin Excerpt: On your slender body Your jade and coral girdle ornaments chime Like those of a celestial companion Come from the Green Jade City of Heaven. One smile from you when we meet, And I become speechless and forget every word. For too long you have gathered flowers, And leaned against the bamboos, Your green sleeves growing cold, In your deserted valley: I can visualize you all alone, A girl harboring her cryptic thoughts. (Translated by Kenneth Rexroth and Ling Chung in Women Poets of China) This, of course, does not begin to scratch the surface in highlighting amazing lesbian poetry! Feel free to comment with of your favorites that I missed. The Touch Excerpt: I follow slowly the graceful contours of your hips, The curves of your shoulders, your neck, your unappeased breasts. In your white voluptuousness my desire rests, Swooning, refusing itself the kisses of your lips. (The Muse of the Violets: Poems by Renée Vivien) For the Goddess Too Well Known Excerpt: I break wild roses, scatter them over her. The thorns between us sting like love’s pain. Her flesh, bitter and salt to my tongue, I taste with endless kisses and taste again. At dawn I leave her Asleep in my wakening garden. (For what was done there I ask no man pardon.) Love Poem Speak earth and bless me with what is richestmake sky flow honey out of my hipsrigis mountainsspread over a valleycarved out by the mouth of rain.And I knew when I entered her I washigh wind in her forests hollowfingers whispering soundhoney flowedfrom the split cupimpaled on a lance of tongueson the tips of her breasts on her naveland my breathhowling into her entrancesthrough lungs of pain.Greedy as herring-gullsor a childI swing out over the earthover and overagain. (The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde) (Pit Stop by Pat Parker) Zyklon B Excerpt: A year later our washing machine breaks.I want a new German one—small, sleek, stylish.I tell my wife, It is perfect for the kitchen.Our washer and dryer are in the kitchen.My wife says, They built the ovens.We buy a new Frigidaire. Degesch, a company affiliated with Degussa,based in Dusseldorf,is the world’s largest maker of specialty chemicals.Degussa has an exemplary recordof examining the wartime past,making restitution to victims. StillThe Memorial Foundation for the Murdered Jews of Europerejects a subcontract for Degussa.Degesch manufactured gas pellets: Zyklon B. This is what I know of gas:May you never make a mistake that cannot be corrected.May you never take an action that cannot be forgotten. When I Was Straight Excerpt: I did not love women as I do now.I loved them with my eyes closed, my back turned.I loved them silent, & startled, & shy. The world was a dreamless slumber party,sleeping bags like straitjackets spread out onthe living room floor, my face pressed into a slender pillow. Some great resources for discovering more authors are: this list of LBT+ Women & Non-Binary Contemporary Poets (and if you are looking for other queer women poets, I can’t recommend Leah Lakshmi-Piepzna Samarasinha highly enough!), looking at the Lambda Literary Awards winner (and nominees) for the Lesbian Poetry category, and the Goodreads list of Best Lesbian Poetry. Probably the easiest way, though, is to try some lesbian poetry/literature anthologies, like Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature by Emma Donoghue, Chloe Plus Olivia: An Anthology of Lesbian Literature from the Seventeenth Century to the Present by Lillian Faderman, or My Lover Is a Woman: Contemporary Lesbian Love Poems edited by Lesléa Newman, and follow up on the poets who appeal to you! Looking for more sapphic literature? Try these 100 Must-Read Lesbian and Bisexual Women Books! Looking for more poetry? Look at the Book Riot poetry tag!
