num_pages: 77
description: In an exquisite and powerful first collection of poetry Carol Guess blends musical language with social commentary. Her poems focus on the lives of women struggling to put words to the unspeakable.Watercolor: LedaThe swan nestles his beak between the woman’ssmallish breasts. His wings curve like orchards,or the broad flaps of planes that searedacres of sky in the early monthsof the last noticeable war. Returningfrom the front, a man lays his headbetween his lover’s breasts, listeningfor the heart nestled among orchards of skin and bone.He lets scars drift from him like petals.He pretends he can forget acres of names.The most noticeable thing in the pictureis the quiet of the woman’s lipsas the bird comes to her, and she pretendsshe will forget warm breath to breast,beast-touch. But everything returns to haunt,like obscene pictures, like the heartof the swan, beating a rhythm outbeneath winged ribs. The murmur of push or dropthrough the bird’s heart flaps, the murmurof beautiful, dead men in their last flights returnsand it is like the returnof the planes at night, when someone’s warhas just begun to drop. The soldier lets his thoughtsnestle among the rhythms of the early front. The womanrests her forehead between wingspread hands,and the old hopes drift like petalsshaken from boughs in pre-war orchards,before the great planes seared their trunkswith scars, obscenely small, like names.Carol Guess is the author of two novels and a memoir. Her poetry is published in Poetry Northwest, The Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review, and Bakunin, among others. Her novel Switch was a finalist for the ALA GLBT Award. She teaches at Western Washington University and lives in Seattle.
language: English
title: Femme's Dictionary
titlecomplete: Femme's Dictionary
genres: LGBT, Poetry
ratings_count: 20
awards: awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Lambda Literary Award
category: Lesbian Poetry
publisher: Calyx Books