alexconall: the Pleiades (Default)
Alex Conall, social justice bard ([personal profile] alexconall) wrote in [community profile] poetree2014-04-21 10:05 am

the diversity of queer women's poetic experience: love poems: Sappho (girl meets girl)

Once there was a girl; once there was a girl. Women, both, really. Her name was Lien; her name was Michelle. After Lien met Michelle, she copied out this poem and gave it to Michelle.


Fragment 31
Sappho tr. Anne Carson

He seems to me equal to gods that man
whoever he is who opposite you
sits and listens close
    to your sweet speaking

and lovely laughing—oh it
puts the heart in my chest on wings
for when I look at you, even a moment, no speaking
    is left in me

no: tongue breaks and thin
fire is rushing under skin
and in eyes no sight and drumming
    fills ears

and cold sweat holds me and shaking
grips me all, greener than grass
I am and dead—or almost
    I seem to me.

But all is to be dared, because even a person of poverty
[...]


Sappho. The most readily recognized queer female poet in the world. Not, probably, the first—that honor may go to Enheduanna, the first poet whose name we know. But the most recognizable name among queer female poets, and Sappho 31 may be her best-known poem.

All is to be dared, Sappho wrote. So Lien dared. But the rest of the poem, unless the last stanza of Catullus 51 is an accurate translation (unlikely), is lost.


Source: If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho, Anne Carson
alee_grrl: A kitty peeking out from between a stack of books and a cup of coffee. (Default)

[personal profile] alee_grrl 2014-04-23 01:02 am (UTC)(link)
I really enjoyed the framing of the poem.

The rest of the poem may be lost to time, but that snippet lives on to inspire. In a way it seems as if the poem itself dares us to finish it. A personal and individual song that echos through time.
lnhammer: the Chinese character for poetry, red on white background (Default)

[personal profile] lnhammer 2014-04-23 02:41 pm (UTC)(link)
It is fun to try, but I've always come away with the feeling that the result is not a poem but a brocolage of sapphic bits. Or possibly more accurately, is fanfic.

---L.
lnhammer: the Chinese character for poetry, red on white background (Default)

[personal profile] lnhammer 2014-04-23 10:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Whoops -- meant to link "fanfic" to this -- the first part being the completing-Sappho as fanfic in question.

---L.
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)

Yes...

[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith 2014-04-27 09:28 am (UTC)(link)
Both Sappho and Enheduanna are favorites of mine. And my favorite of Sappho's lines is this:

"let me tell you this -- someone in some future time will think of us."