page 14

line drawing

page 15

A Plumbing Poem

i go off before the alarm
my paranoid must-not-clock
runs faster
much faster than the Westinghouse one
i wake up half an hour early
to must not--must not
you must not
not
stay in bed
over sleep
be late

in the morning
i trade pipes for pipes
nightmares of pipes
for the reality of pipes
i should wait
wait a few years and write
write my memoirs being called
'my life among the pipes'
or
'i can't get out of the waste stack'
or better still
'out of the water closet and into the sewer'

page 12

line drawing

page 13

handwritten

Night Noises

for Jane

You woke from a dream,
the revolution
in the streets
calling you out.

I had to tell you
the noises were not in your dream.

The army of lovers
was saying goodnight
at the foot of the stairs.
Loud sounds.
It was the revolution.
You were not sleeping
or dreaming
either.

Lee Lally

page 10

I remember that I didn't dare
Didn't dare to say
Didn't dare to love
Didn't dare to feel
It's wrong--I knew it was wrong
At least I thought I knew
Anyway, years passed
I came to my senses
Or, my senses came to me
They were alive and steaming
I wanted to love
A woman
And be loved by
A woman.

Now I feel as a full person
I have a lover
A beautiful woman
Yet we have problems
Everyone assumes that these problems are
Because we're gay
And they're right!
But the difficulties emanate from externals
We could be completely happy
If we were allowed to be

line drawing on page 8

page 9

7:45 Clock Radio

Joycey,
I know
you hate waking up early
in the morning,
but when my alarm goes off
& I realize you're there
next to me
in our bed
in our house
I get so excited
that I have to tell you
how wonderful I feel
to be really living this life
& no longer dreaming
of fantasy lovers
& fantasy me's
in fantasy places
where I'd never really go.

So I rouse you a little
with my cold feet
against your calves
& my fingers
along your shoulders
& you groan
& I laugh
& the crazy pooch
groggy but rammy
licks you awake

dyke

i've learned to dance
with other women
free and moving
many of us
i run acrosstown
four a.m. singing
i write poems
about me about my life
which i've learned to value
i've learned to say
aloud who i am
what i believe in
to share my feelings
even when i'm angry, confused
or in pain.

today i'm staying still
alone and quiet
absorbing all this
that it's taken me
my lifetime
to know exists.

morgan murielchild

line drawing on facing page

page 6

That year I loved you
beyond your deepest dreams
sitting across the table from you
in room 19
gazing into your eyes
as you talked about school and Matt
and my head and yours
ours was never mentioned, unspoken, taboo
the early evenings spent
sitting in your car
after driving me home
my mother was always uptight
about those evenings
and the feelings constantly
sweeping through me
my arms wanting to hold you
my lips kissing yours
I couldn't bring myself to touch you
couldn't begin to explain my love
our abstract discussions
about homosexuality

page 2

Copyright (c) 1973 by Violet Press
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0-912968-02-8
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 73-80155
First Edition 3000 copies
Printed by Aenjai Graphics

Front cover and graphic on p. 8 by Jan Barber;
title page and graphic on p. 22 by Carol Hernandez;
back cover and graphic on p. 46 by Flavia Rando;
graphic on p. 5 by Maxine; graphic on p. 29 by
Morgan Sanders; calligraphy by Judy Rosen

The line from Poem 581 by Emily Dickinson is reprinted by
permission of the publishers and the Trustees of Amherst

Epigraph

I found the words to every thought
I ever had - but One -

Emily Dickinson

Title Page
we are all lesbians
line drawing of four sets of clasped hands
a poetry anthology
violet press
p.o. box 398 n.y.c. 10009

stamp mark from library at bottom of page

Cover of We Are All Lesbians
Poetry Anthology
cover price: $2
line drawing as artwork