I just turned 69. I started publishing poetry and art by lesbians in 2010, when I was 55. That makes 14 years I’ve been publishing. Why do I do it? Do I really have to explain? Who out there doesn’t understand? If you’re one of those people, read Lillian Faderman. You could start with her first book, Surpassing the Love of Men. I recommend The Gay Revolution as well, which shows how lesbians have been considered outlaws, sinners, crazies, and subversives. Could lesbians, therefore, be poets? What is the purpose of poetry? Perhaps poetry is a melding of philosophy, culture, art, and music, which appears as fresh language by each poet, and serves to delight and instruct. Now, really, can you see the difference here? Poetry is a kind of heaven, and lesbians were doomed to the underworld.
Thanks to groundbreakers in popular culture, like Ellen, lesbians are being included. But that’s popular culture. What about literary culture? What about poetry? Dame Carol Ann Duffy broke through walls in the UK, an out lesbian who reigned as Poet Laureate from 2009 to 2019. Then Joelle Taylor, a butch lesbian, won the 2021 TS Eliot Prize in the UK. Things aren’t as good here in the US. Or at least, not since 1974, when out lesbians Adrienne Rich (winner) and Audre Lorde (finalist) were recognized by the National Book Award.
I didn’t start my online journal, Lavender Review: Lesbian Poetry and Art, and Headmistress Press, in order to make gobs of money. I wasn’t foolish enough to believe that any poetry makes money. I started these projects, because I wanted to read poems by lesbians, and learn about art by lesbians. No matter how many journals and books I read, lesbians are almost always either excluded or hidden. I am 100% lesbian poet, and I need to swim there with my pool witches in order to grow.
So, I was a fierce little poet, but I was also dirt poor. Luckily, Risa Denenberg, Mistress of Fulfillment, was willing to partner with me, Mistress of Witchery, and get Headmistress Press started. She contributed funds and continues to contribute her business savvy. This is a labor of love, and we’ve never been compensated for our work. Then Rita Mae Reese, Mistress of Marketing, joined us with her brilliant idea of making Lesbian Poet Trading Cards. We’re currently working on the 2024 series, which will bring the total number of cards up to 96.
We previously held the Charlotte Mew Chapbook Contest, but now hold one annual contest for full-length poetry collections by lesbians: Sappho’s Prize in Poetry, where I serve as judge, editor, and book designer, and Risa works on publicity, bookfairs, and bookstores. We’ve published poetry collections by, among others, Elizabeth Wilson, Lesléa Newman, Samantha Pious, Renée Vivien, Laura Foley, Joy Ladin, Alison Prine, Anne Myles, Janice Gould, Nicole Santalucia, Constance Merritt, Annie Christain, Flower Conroy, Robin Reagler, S.G. Huerta, and Jen Rouse.
Our Lesbian Poet Trading Cards were lauded in the Chicago Tribune and featured at the Poetry Foundation and AfterEllen. Headmistress Press books have received recognition and awards from Kirkus Reviews (starred review, named one of top five poetry books of 2019), Golden Crown Literary Society, Lambda Literary Awards, Poets’ Prize, Massachusetts Center for the Book, Washington Independent Review of Books, and the American Library Association.
In my first paragraph, I took a stab at defining the purpose of poetry. But if love is love, isn’t poetry poetry? What makes lesbian poetry different? Lesbian poetry isn’t just about “Wild nights.” I can’t explain it—yet—but I know it when I see it.
Mary Meriam advocates for the right of women to love each other in their poetry and art, and strives to give their work a place at the table. She writes about and publishes such work in the journal she founded, Lavender Review, at the press she cofounded, Headmistress Press, and at Ms. magazine, The Critical Flame, and The Gay & Lesbian Review. Her poetry collections, The Countess of Flatbroke, The Poet’s Zodiac, The Lillian Trilogy, My Girl’s Green Jacket, and Lady of the Moon, honor a cosmos of strong, creative women. Her latest collection, Pools of June, was published in 2022. She studied poetry at Columbia University (MFA) and Bennington College (BA), and teaches in the MFA program at the University of Arkansas. Her poems have appeared in Literary Imagination, Literary Matters, Poetry, Post Road, Prelude, Rattle, Subtropics, and The Poetry Review.