This lesbian book of poetry is being crowdfunded, support it if you can!
Lesbian scholar and poet Julie R. Enszer is crowdfunding her next book and for her latest volume of poetry she has teamed up with illustrator Isabel Paul.
The Pinko Commie Dyke is a series of poems about how The Pinko Commie Dyke encounters the world with all its moments of joy and levity and times of rage and frustration. Within the first several pages of the book, The Pinko Commie Dyke:
- HIJACKS the commercial airwaves
- SLEEPS next to the big fierce dog
- RETURNS to the place where the idea of being a pinko commie dyke first entered her mind
- FIRES a shot gun out behind a barn
- CARRIES a union card opposite her driver’s license
- BEATS back all manner of supremacy
The Pinko Commie Dyke is and is not me, Julie Enszer. The Pinko Commie Dyke is a lesbian archetype, an imagined dyke superhero, a dastardly villain, and an amalgamation of all lesbians and contemporary queer women.
Indolent Press, run by poet Michael Broder, uses a crowdfunding model to bring its books into the world. This also helps the book get out to the largest number of people possible in the first month of publication.
“I love this book and am so excited for it to be in the world. I would really appreciate your support in making it happen,” says Enszer.
You can purchase a copy of the book through the Kickstarter campaign.
About the author
Julie R. Enszer, PhD, is a scholar and a poet. Her scholarly book manuscript, A Fine Bind, is a history of lesbian-feminist presses from 1969 until 2009. Her scholarly work has appeared or is forthcoming in Southern Cultures, Journal of Lesbian Studies, American Periodicals, WSQ, and Frontiers.
She is the author of four poetry collections, Avowed (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2016), Lilith’s Demons (A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2015), Sisterhood (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2013) and Handmade Love (A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2010). She co-edited with Elena Gross OutWrite: The Speeches that Shaped LGBTQ Literary Culture (Rutgers University Press, 2022), which won the 2023 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Anthology. She is editor of Fire-Rimmed Eden: Selected Poems by Lynn Lonidier (Sinister Wisdom, 2023), The Complete Works of Pat Parker (Sinister Wisdom/A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2016), which won the 2017 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry, Sister Love: The Letters of Audre Lorde and Pat Parker 1974-1989 (Sinister Wisdom/A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2018), and Milk & Honey: A Celebration of Jewish Lesbian Poetry (A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2011), which was a finalist for the 2012 Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Poetry.
Enszer has her MFA and PhD from the University of Maryland. She edits and publishes Sinister Wisdom, a multicultural lesbian literary and art journal, and a regular book reviewer for the The Rumpus and Calyx. You can read more of her work at www.JulieREnszer.com.
