Sapphic Songs: Eighteen to Eighty

by Elsa Gidlow

Lesbian poetry.

Genres: Poetry, Lesbian, Queer, LGBT

93 pages

First published June 1, 1982

About the author

Elsa Gidlow (29 December 1898 – 8 June 1986) was a poet, who in 1923 published the first volume of openly lesbian love poetry in the United States, On a Grey Thread. She promoted alternative spiritualities including Buddhism and Goddess Worship. In the 1940s she founded a rural retreat center, the Druid Heights Artists Retreat, in Marin County, California. She lived there until her death in 1986. Other residents at Druid Heights have included well-known figures such as her close friend Alan Watts and feminist theorist Catharine MacKinnon.

Reviews

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Let it stay a mystery
For all time to be."
She's like if Sappho and Reneé Vivien had a child

[Maddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible. Elsa Gidlow was a lesbian poet who lived from 1898-1986. Her work deserves way more visibility, especially in the queer community! She wrote this stanza in 1920, from a poem titled Constancy:

“You're jealous if I kiss this girl and that,
You think I should be constant to one mouth?
Little you know of my too quenchless drouth:
My sister, I keep faith with love, not lovers.”

I read an eCopy of this book via the Internet Archive with my free account. They have an archive of out of print titles that are available to the public at no cost!

[Lucia Calero · Rating 5 out of 5]

este poemario se está convirtiendo en mi espacio seguro ahora mismo