Athens

Welcome again to "I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell do I Read?" If you missed the whole introduction, check out this link (or just scroll down a bit to Saturday's post!)

Today's entry is "This Week's Bitchin' Queer Poem."

But first, it's important for me to let you all know that my intent is for this blogsite to be inclusive - a cool and useful resource and community building tool for everyone interested or invested in the GLBTQ teen world of literature...

So, This Week's Bitchin' Queer Poem is about women-lovin'-women! Or should I write, perhaps, womyn-lovin'-womyn! From our Herstory (it's amazing how male-centric our language is, isn't it?)

Enjoy!

The travel folder for Lesbos, Jacqueline Lapidus says, does not say that Sappho slept with women:

but we’re not fooled
we lock our door at the YWCA
and fuse, faces flushed,
palms damp, tongues
tasting the names of Sappho’s lovers:
Anactoria
Andromeda
Atthis
Damophyla
Erinna
Gyrinno
Gongyla
Gorgo
Hero
Mnasidika
Pleistodika
And Timas of Anatolia who died young.

- Jacqueline Lapidus

I found this amazing poem on pg. 173 of “Another Mother Tongue: Gay Words, Gay Worlds”, by Judy Grahn. The poem was first published in “Conditions: Seven [ N.Y.: Conditions, 1981], pg. 91