In Her I Am

Sexy, sexy lesbian sex poetry. Butches, femmes, packing, teasing, and red silk dresses lying in tatters on the floor. Mrrow.

I didn't realize until I hit the afterward that Chrystos published this collection as a counterstrike in the lesbian sex wars, that they were intended as an announcement of

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alliance with the leatherdyke community and against the "Feminism is the theory, Lesbianism is the practice" feminist academics. (Coming late into the scene as I did -- around the time this volume was published -- those wars never made sense to me: the leatherscene seemed as sterling an example of the principles of feminism as one might ever want to see. But I digress...) In hindsight, I see how these poems are intended as such: these poems are a passionate account of women who like sex, and who like their sex with other women.

In the forward, Chrystos talks briefly about her dual identities as Native and as a Lesbian:I live on a razor: I am only intermittently cherished by the mainstream Lesbian gang, who are primarily caucasian (& not interested in my burning concern for First Nations' struggles), while in Native communities homophobia is inevitable because of the influence of the christian churches     The only time all of my identities come home is during the yearly Gathering we have for Indigenous Lesbians, Gays, and our lovers & friends     I live from year to year on those five-day celebrations     (I will comment that Indian Country is becoming less homophobic faster than Lesbianism is coming to understand, rather than appropriate, Native spirituality and culture)

The intersection is subtle in the poems themselves, but comes to the fore again in her afterward in which she discusses outlaw sexualities, ethics, sadism, de Sade, colonization, and the leather culture. There is some lovely stuff in there, and I shan't try to summarize it.

She concludes with this request:Over the years, I've sadly watched women-only spaces decrease until I only know of 2 or 3 worldwide     Our freedom to speak to each other has been co-opted     We have no control over who reads our work, but I want to be clear that this work is a gift given to other Lesbians     I don't want to be used by those who do not share my oppression or who are not working to end it

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meh... It's nothing special.