Lesbian 1970's Remembered

concise description, highlights and recollections of an historic moment

 

Lesbian 1970’s Remembered 

 

Lesbians lesbian-feminists gay liberation women’s caucus of gay liberation lesbian community 

A disorderly agglomeration of names shifting self-proclaiming plus additional identities 

Consciousness raising said to be preliminary to action but often the greater glory 

Alternative ways of doing things held in high esteem along with democracy and circular shapes 

 

 Sally Gearhart invoked a feminist rendition of revolution not based upon the male orgasm 

Johanna Gullick went by bus to Vancouver to hear Vietnamese women tell their stories 

Dixie Youtes said that at her job she had become a shop steward in her union    

Ellen Broidy said to pay attention to our lives because there is no instruction book no blueprint 

 

Harriet and I had already compared discarded ideologies for hours over coffee 

Someone said alternatives to dating someone said alternatives to marriage someone said  

Art is everywhere then Susie and Ellen helped Elizabeth become a piano tuner after a bad break-up 

Then Darlene and I established routines and walked our dogs before we went upstairs at her house 

 

But it was Susie who said to my surprise at the supermarket  

Let's get you out of here you’re starting to space out  

Author's Note

This is written in fourteen lines, like a sonnet. I've started experimenting with this length recently, but I have also told stories from this period in thousand word prose pieces.