Lesbian Poetry: Slip Away

I work in an abortion clinic.

All you pro-gay lesbians who are anti-choice can just go ahead and hate me now, even though that combination of beliefs makes absolutely no sense to me. You best believe I'll be blogging more about that another time.

What you see below is the one of the last poems I wrote. This one was actually done last year. Ironically, it was written in an unofficially "pro-life", conservative, local hospital waiting room in approximately ten minutes while I awaited my MRI because I was being treated for migraines at the time.

It was very interesting writing a poem about abortion in this type of setting. The timing and atmosphere may sound a little odd, but I believe it actually made me even more tenacious about what I believed in. It was like a clash of my old, semi-religious upbringing/past meeting the evolved, liberal, feminista in me.

I was also on a deadline. I was going to do my first workshop at an annual abortion providers conference, and I wanted to open it with a real zinger. I decided to start it with a performance art piece that would feature a poem. That environment is just where the poem happened to come to me.Although abortion, by federal law, is legal in all 50 states, each one has gradually made their own rules and restrictions. This has made it more difficult for women every single day. In this case, I was talking specifically about Pennsylvania, who's criterion is one of the toughest...

"SLIP AWAY"

by Cynthia Rodriguez

Abortion restrictions,

fear of conviction

Doctors living in fear,

the protesters near

the entry way—in our face

still fighting for that buffer zone, to put them in their place

A 16 year old, alone, and afraid

Reflecting upon the mistake she just made

consequences of her actions

dreading the reaction,

of her parents

getting permission like a school trip

or it's a trip to the courthouse

they say you're too young,

to make up your own mind

so don't even think of crossing that state line

Pharmacist's refusals of Plan B

Limiting birth control but they cannot see

do not anticipate,

the damage they create...

24 hours you need to wait

The conservative "Right"

would opt to choose your fate

Another clinic fades to black

Another worker gets attacked

The struggle continues but "We won't go back"

Chipping away at Roe vs. Wade

right under our noses,

We've come so far,

just to let it slip away.

Lesbian poets who would like to have their poetry featured on Lesbiatopia please contact me at:

resident.book.worm@gmail.com

Peace and Solutude

Peace-
Beneath the mighty wide-spread limbed oak,
we sit in gentle contemplance reading poetry,
about us there is not a sound to be heard
as the orb of the sun passes over head,

She has lain her head upon my lap
so that she may look upon my face above
as I read her poems of love and lust,
the day wains gently by this quietness,

I wear a dress of the finest cloth,
and she has woven ribbon into my hair
as I have braided her raven locks
with affection unable to perish.

(originally published by the author, me, in Seaswells, the Literary Journal of Brunswick College in 1995)

My Crazy Ramblings - Peep Show

A poem of my crazy ramblings - a typical smorgousboard of thoughts in my head. Enjoy!

Peep Show

Alliteration – the formation of what you might call a nation of words that love rhyming and chiming to sound so akin that its like that big sin of a grin on the Cheshire cat as his body recedes and his smile just pleads to remain in your brain like the grain of a salt on your plate when you’ve eaten more than you ate on a date, wanna play?

I just can’t seem to muster the strength to discuss, err, converse about things of importance when clearly there’s mumbo and jumbo to fumble out of my pie hole its funny my head’s so lightheaded I’ve dreaded this feeling since the rain leaked the ceiling and I do recommend that you look away while I’m stealing from rich hens to feed to poor chickens since santa’s not going to knock down the door anymore, and I’d better get quicken before my money plot thickens.

When you’re calling my phone and your voice is so drone that you moan I must say that it does scare the children so please when you’re leaving a message its best to contest the mentality of reality in a way that seems pleasing and pleasant to people because everyone wants and desires a friendly relation which leaves them a silky sensation like that potion of lotion the witch doctor prescribed for your love aches and shakes and the breaks in your motion like sleeping which equates to the greatest gift to mankind, besides peeping.

- Renee Gannon

Let Me Be Your Valentine's Day Pin-Up Girl!

Tali Shapiro. She pretty much rocks my world. If you don't know who she is, you should. She's a rockin', super-talented 24 year-old arts student and lover of pinups and retro American culture. She's also been busy creating her newest (and quite fabulous if I do say so myself) pin-up girl art, but we'll get to that shortly. First, let's take a step back into history and explore the world of pin-up culture...



A pin-up girl or pin-up model is a model whose mass-produced pictures see wide appeal as pop culture. Pin-ups are intended for informal display. Pin-up girls are often glamour models, fashion models, and actresses.

"Pin-up" may also refer to drawings, paintings and other illustrations done in emulation of these photos (see the List of pinup artists). The term was first attested to in English in 1941; however the practice is documented back at least to the 1890s. The “pin up” images could be cut out of magazines or newspapers, or be from postcard or chromo-lithographs, and so on. Such photos often appear on calendars, which are meant to be pinned up anyway. Later, posters of “pin-up girls” were mass-produced.

Many “pin ups” were photographs of celebrities who were considered sex symbols. One of the most popular early pin-up girls was Betty Grable. Her poster was ubiquitous in the lockers of G.I.s during World War II. Others pin-ups were artwork, often depicting idealized versions of what some thought a particularly beautiful or attractive woman should look like. An early example of the latter type was the Gibson girl, drawn by Charles Dana Gibson. The genre also gave rise to several well-known artists specializing in the field, including Alberto Vargas and George Petty, and numerous lesser artists such as Art Frahm.

The term “cheesecake” is synonymous with “pin-up photo”. The earliest documented print usage of this sense of “cheesecake” is in 1934, predating “pin-up”, although anecdotes say the phrase was in spoken slang some 20 years earlier, originally in the phrase (said of a pretty woman) “better than cheesecake”. In the 1950's, for example, there was a magazine called Cheesecake that had a young Marilyn Monroe in an itsy bitsy yellow bikini on its cover in 1953.

These days men can be considered “pin ups” as well and there are male equivalents of attractive and sexy actors such as Harrison Ford or numerous male models, but really who wants to see pin-ups of men. Women are so much sexier!

Some famous Pin-Up girls include (to name a few):
-Bette Davis
-Joan Crawford
-Mae West
-Judy Garland
-Rita Hayworth
-Audrey Hepburn
-Grace Kelly
-Doris Day
-Faye Dunaway
-Mary Tyler Moore
-Jane Fonda
...and many more

And now, Lesbiatopia is proud to introduce, courtesy of the fabulous art of Tali Shapiro, your newest pin-up girl (just in time for Valentines Day)...

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!

Lesbiatopia's own Editor-in-Chief, Lesberita!!!

You might remember back to the beginning of January when Paula the Surf Mom introduced us to Tali, dubbing her (quite enthusiastically) as the Pin-Up Queen (yeah baby!). Paula talked about how Tali was "bringing cheesecake back in vouge" and boy did she ever! I was ecstatic when Tali agreed to make my shining face into her Valentine's Day pin-up girl. To Tali, Valentine's Day is very much a love hate relationship, as she explains on her website:

"Some of us love it and celebrate it with our beloved, and some of us spend it sitting alone, in a dark corner of a bar, muttering bitterly how Valentine's sucks. This design captures the duality of the love/hate relationship most of us have with Valentine's day. Love it or hate it, tell everybody how you feel about it with the 'Valentine's is for Pussies' bitter-sweet pinup, and click on one of the items below!

I know I've had my moments of loving (and hating) Valentine's Day too, and I think pretty much everyone can relate to our culture's rollercoastery attitude towards a holiday whose historical significance dates back to the days of Chaucer and his poem about St. Valentine and looooove:

"For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese [choose] his make [mate]."

Anyway, whatever feelings you desire to express on V-Day (love, hate or delicious ambiguity), be sure to check out Tali's little shop of pin-ups (and her pin-up blog, too!), where retro pop-art meets the modern-day women. Is that sexy, or what?? MEEEE-OOOOOWW!!

The Written Cure

I was feeling a little poetic and a little political today, so here's a poem I wrote that I would like to share with you. Hope you enjoy it!

To write a great opening line might just be a crime but I find
That the rhyme of this prime time slime on the TV that I’m watching
And every mark that I’m notching is caught like a tree to an axe or an axe to a tree
But it don’t matter cuz to me it’s not free but to be like I see or you see
Well gee, that shit’s crazy.

So here goes it again, and this pen is just mightier but my eyes have been flightier
And I gotta relate to the pace of this fate of my life as it drives by me faster than
Nuclear missiles that are aimed at the White House and while marchers silently protest the whistles and alarms of the messed and arrest and the turmoil and terror, and yes that’s an –ism; when light hits a prism it creates the one fate of the light as its bending and pending to rainbows but it shows up on ceilings when in fact its on floors, and hey I just found out that we’re going to war.

So what do you say about that, about cats and mad hatters in hats, and I sound like the Suess is to doctor or teachers that proctor exams when we’re failing and can’t you see our arms are flailing for attention, but no, we just sit in detention, while Grandpa’s own pension just dwindled so that rich people’s taxes relax and sit back and drink beers in Bermuda while stocks are consumed and presumed to be neutered, and Walmarts are showing up all over the country, unfurled and ready to take over the world, like Al Queda, so I stayed up late to watch CNN, now I’ll pull an all-nighter and write with my pen, so to all of you sleepers, don’t dream about peepers and we’ll see in the morning, cuz red skies bring fair warning.

What more can I say, ‘nother dime, ‘nother day, but shouldn’t those poor little kids get to play with their peers without having the fear to steer clear of the anthrax that’s poured in a hole in their soil, not only to spoil their water but also cause sickness to mother and daughter and father and brother, who just left to go find a rescue or shelter, god it just seems like its all Helter Skelter. But enough of depressing material I want to think happy and clap because I have the hope and the faith in the things that I love with my heart and my soul and despite all the badness and sadness there’s gladness just hiding and waiting and anticipating, oh wait its right there, can’t you see him, he’s shrieking and leaping to scream “Carpe Diem!” If all else is failing and nobody’s caring at least there will always be elmo and big bird and cute little babies who are simple and pure, and for all the bad things in this world, that’s my cure.

- RG aka Lesberita

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My Pet Peeves

As you can see, I'm on a poetry kick lately. This is a poem I wrote one day when I was in one of those quirky moods - you know the one; where you kind of feel like your head is slightly detached from your body and this morbid sense of humor emerges from the depths of your repressed subconsciousness. If you're lucky, you can tap into this mood every once in a blue moon, and usually strange and crazy artistic creations are born from it. So here it is, my "Pet Peeves" poem.

Pet Peeves

Some pet peeves of mine are -
- And not to be picky
But I’d rather address them
And do it right quickly

For starters I don’t like
When people drive slowly
Or old men in Speedos
Or green guacamole

Or too much perfume
Or fruit in my Jell-O
And I’d just have to say
The worst color is yellow

Chalkboards are ghastly
Especially when scratched at
And men wearing uniforms
Engaging in combat

Child pornography’s
Extremely appalling
And one more to add
Is violence and brawling

Now I know that my list
Might be lengthy and long
But I’ll truly assure you
I’m doing no wrong

It’s just so important
And I’ll try to appease
Don’t think of me awful
I’m begging you, please

But I can’t stand pollution
Or hunting and poaching
And when playing a sport
There’s no worse than bad coaching

Food that’s too spicy
Will upset my tummy
Despite that it’s flavor
Is delicious and yummy

Cruelty to animals
Just makes my skin clamber
And one other color
Not orange, but amber

Lycra is naughty
Polyester is evil
And pleather will always
Cause quite an upheaval

The father and son team
And I mean the Bushes
When one of them pulls
The other one pushes

I really hate math
‘Cuz I just can’t do it
Numbers are strange
That’s all there is to it

Milk that’s gone bad,
Is to sure to cause heaving
And the people who suck
Are good at deceiving

Biological warfare
Sure gives me the willies
But drinking the liquor
Sure gives me the sillies

Bad breathe is foul
Especially when kissing
And then some bad kissing
Is worth your dismissing

Men that are hairy
Are certainly Guido
But nothing’s as scary
As a man in a speedo

Well I think that I’m done
With this ranting and raving
I don’t want you thinking
I’m badly behaving

So please just remember
And don’t become blinded
The worst pet-peeve of all
Is a person close-minded

-RG aka Lesberita

So, what are YOUR pet peeves?

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Tags: Pet Peeves, humor, Poetry

Burnt Dinner and Feminism

This is one of my all-time favorite poems, written by a woman named Marge Piercy. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

What's That Smell in the Kitchen

All over America women are burning dinners.
It's lambchops in Peoria; it's haddock
in Providence; it's steak in Chicago;
tofu delight in Big Sur; red
rice and beans in Dallas.
All over America women are burning
food they're supposed to bring with calico
smile on platters glittering like wax.
Anger sputters in her brainpan, confined
but spewing out missiles of hot fat.
Carbonized despair presses like a clinker
from a barbecue against the back of her eyes.
If she wants to grill anything, it's
her husband spitted over a slow fire.
If she wants to serve him anything
it's a dead rat with a bomb in its belly
ticking like the heart of an insomniac.
Her life is cooked and digested,
nothing but leftovers in Tupperware.
Look, she says, once I was roast duck
on your platter with parsley but now I am Spam.
Burning dinner is not incompetence but war.

- Marge Piercy
1983

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Roses are red, violets are blue, please leave your comment, after your reading is thru.

A po-em!

A-hem!

Once again my tale rings true,
And I am an ingrate all over you.

My sweetness derived in love and desire,
Compliments, flirtations, sheer admire....

Turned your heart indeed, a connection,
but fast into that other direction.

Right to the place I have always ended.
Privileged in a way I never intended.

And thus, I hear your every thought.
Whether I want to...or not.

Pieces falling fast, and you just don't see,
Feeling for someone, but it isn't me.

And I die a little, whenever you speak,
Closer we get, the more I am weak.

You trust me, thanks, but I want a real chance.
To get out of friendship, and into your pants!

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Tags: Girls we wish we had, humor, love, Poetry

I Swept the Pieces of My Life

I swept the pieces of my life
That settled on the floor-
And dusted all the untold Truths
And Blew them out the door.

Yet when I lifted up the rug
I never hoped to see-
A Distant trace of life gone by
Then peering back at me.

As time-like Ashes of my fire
Amassed before my Eyes-
Extinguished flames of innocence
Left smoke trails of demise.

And thus-the fragments once cleaned off
The End was to begin-
Or so I thought-my tidied life
Was cluttered once again.

-RG (aka Lesberita)

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Tags: Poetry

Tongue-Tied

Tongue-Tied

-- dedicated to RZ

Tick tock
Lip lock
I want to get home
and throw you on top
of the bed, the counter,
the couch and the stairs
I want to undress you
And mess up your hairs
Let’s go to our den
And then when we’re done
We’ll repeat our affairs
And have some more fun

Tick tock
Lip lock
I’m thinking about you
and I just can’t stop
Undressing your body
With my eyes and my mind
While sitting at work
Wasting valuable time
You’re driving me crazy
And you’re not even here
But I’m letting you know
That I’m being sincere

Tick tock
Lip lock
Time’s moving backwards
my jaw’s gonna drop
on the chair, then the floor
My quick thrusty hips
are headed straight for the door
to see you, let’s rendezvous
How ‘bout a ride?
in my car, with my thighs
Pressed against
Your sweet prize

Tick tock
Lip lock
Only 2 more hours
When will it stop?
Got this crazy feeling
In my heart and my soul
It’s a love explosion
And I’m ready to roll
This love’s on fire
And I’m about to roam
right into your arms
Baby, I’m comin’ home

Tags: humor, lesbian, love, passion, poem, poerty, sex

What's new pussy?

(Sung to the tune of "What's new pussycat?")


What's new pussy? woah, woah
What's new pussy? woah, woah
Pussy (pause), pussy (pause)
I've got flowers
And lots of hours
To spend with you.
So go and freshen your cute little pussy
Pussy (pause) pussy (pause)
I love you
Yes, I do!
You and your pussy lips
What's new pussy? woah, woah
What's new pussy? woah, woah
Pussy (pause), pussy (pause)
You're so thrilling
And I'm so willing
To care for you.
So go and make up your cute little pussy face!
Pussy, pussy
I love you
Yes, I do!
You and your pussy face!
What's new pussy? woah, woah
What's new pussy? woah, woah
Pussy (pause), pussy (pause)
You're delicious
And if my wishes
Can all come true
I'll soon be kissing your sweet little pussy lips!
Pussy, pussy
I love you
Yes, I do!
You and your pussy lips!
You and your pussy taste!
You and your pussy smile!

Tags: lesbians, pussy, pussycat