Customer Reviews

Gay and Lesbian Poetry in Our Time (Stonewall Inn Editions)

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"Gay and Lesbian Poetry in Our Time: An Anthology," edited by Carl Morse and Joan Larkin, brings together the work of nearly 100 poets, mainly from the U.S. and Canada. This anthology is a stunning achievement. The poets represent a multigenerational group of men and women. These poets also represent many different cultural heritages: Native American, Jewish, Asian, Latina, and more. There is a particularly strong representation of African-American poets: Essex Hemphill, Audre Lorde, Cheryl Clarke, and many, many more.

The innovative introduction is written in the form of a dialogue between coeditors Morse and Larkin. Addressing the interesting question--Why a gay and lesbian anthology?--Larkin notes that "all kinds of sparks result when you get us all together in one place." She also observes that the poems begin "to speak to one another" when so gathered. The introduction also recalls some highlights from the history of 20th century lesbian and gay literature, with an emphasis on poetry and anthologies.

The authors are a good mix of both well-known and lesser-known poets. The poems themselves cover many different themes and stylistic approaches. Some of the many highlights include Alexis De Veaux's narrative poem "The Sisters"; Maurice Kenny's "Winkte," a celebration of the gay Native American experience; and Irena Klepfisz's "death camp," a painful poem about the Holocaust.

If you have a passion for poetry, for lesbian literature, for multicultural studies, or for gay men's literature, you will want to add "Gay and Lesbian Poetry in Our Time" to your library. It is a remarkable volume.

Lambda Literary Award winner

I bought this book because it is spotlighted in the introduction of the anthology `The Poetry of Sex' edited by Tee A. Corinne because it "...offered windows into cultures for which there had been very little visibility and almost no literary continuity."

Of the almost 100 Poets included I knew many of the women and look forward to reading the others (and some have more than one poem featured in the book).

Some favorites -
Dorothy Allison,
W.H. Auden
James Baldwin
Jane Barnes
Susan Cavin
Cheryl Clarke
Jan Clausen
Tatiana de la Tierra
Allen Ginsberg,
Jewelle Gomez
Judy Grahn
Marilyn Hacker
Joy Harjo,
Langston Hughes
June Jordan
Joan Larkin
Audre Lorde
Honor Moore
Eileen Myles
Frank O'Hara
Pat Parker
Adrienne Rich
Linda Smuckler
May Swenson
Kitty Tsui
Tennessee Williams

The authors are presented in alphabetical order and as a nice touch are accompanied by photos of the writer. Also enjoyable were the brief author biographies that precede the poem rather than at the back of the book. The bibliography in the back has excellent recommendations for further reading.

From the back of the book -

You could simply call this the most important collection of gay and lesbian poetry yet published. It is. -- Bay Area Reporter

Booklist - Surpasses every previous anthology of its kind in size, in presenting both men's and women's writings, and in quality.

That's right, any poetry-lover. The poems in this collection reflect truly universal themes that anybody can relate to. This is a collection of nothing but masters of the art of poetry. From Beats to Surrealists to Confessionalists, it's all here (and not just for queers).