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First an Image, then Explanations
The Poetry of Penelope Pope


On sale: 9/5/2012
Formats: Paperback, PDF, Kindle, Epub
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As a poet, Penelope Pope is something of a legend in the LBGT community. A selection of her poems was published by Marie Kuda's Womanpress in 1977, but her work has only rarely been presented to the world at large.

First an Image, then Explanations is a collection of powerful and evocative poems that are also sensual in a very grownup way. She draws on the Italian American Chicago she grew up in Chicago but goes far beyond that into an intimate, erotic place of womanly love and an even more intimate world of imagination.

You will recognize your own feelings in Pope's work, as you do in the work of the best poets. But you will also explore life as you don't know it, as a line or an image simply knocks your emotions sideways.

 

Excerpt from First an Image, then Explanations

Anniversary

If you want bread, buy salt.
To find what you lost
Wait for snow.
To recover the years
Count by two's on your fingers.
For our life together
There is honey
In the palms of my hands.

 

"Anniversary" is copyrighted by Penelope Pope and may not be used without her permission.

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Penelope Pope

Penelope Pope was born and grew up in Chicago. She developed her poetic voice during the 1970s when she was also active in the gay community. She was a member of the Lavender Woman collective, which produced Chicago's first lesbian newspaper, and was an early member of Chicago Lesbian Liberation. She worked most of her adult life as an insurance underwriter. She lives in Mundelein, Illinois, with her partner of more than fifty years, Irene Lee.