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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 16, 2000)
»una lfi. 2 ÛQÛ \ L ighting up Portland s Broadway Continued from Page 5 3 waiting for 200-plus pages of sexual and gender explosion. Or at least I thought so. Perhaps I am too hopeful and not realistic enough to like a book that thrives on buildup and struggle, only to result in quiet resolution. Perhaps metaphors of fast cars, slamming doors, and rock ’n’ roll (all of which Summer uses fre quently) are only present to entice a reader enough to plow through the novel. Paige Bergman, the promising heroine introduced in the first chapter, turns into the narrator at the beginning of Chapter 2, and Summer allows Paige’s attributes to engulf the novel in a shy, apprehensive narrative. There are moments of promise in this book that are effortlessly thrown away. Funny how much this is like Paige’s own adolescence, which she spends unassertively chasing the middle-aged, furiously dynamic housewife Fiona Gallagher. Indeed, 1 felt tricked as I closed the book at the end. Where was all the drama I was craving? Why did Summer set up such a thought-provoking first chapter and then slowly chip away at any sort of reader interest? 1 realize that I should per haps be more reasonable in my expectations about the possiblities for a closeted 1970s dyke, but Summers treatment of Paige’s case is all too bland. Also, I wonder if I’m the only one who finds the last chapter a bit cryptic and unneces sary? I doubt it. — M uffie White T he W orld I n U s : L esbian and G ay P oetry of th e N ex t W ave Edited by M ichael Lassell and Elena Georgiou. St. Martin’s Press, 2000; $29.95 hardcover. f you expect poetry to he calm, polite and well-mannered— watch out! The World In Us just might make you come. Staggeringly per sonal poems commingle with gut-wrenching poems of loss and missed opportunity. Angry and terse works seethe across the page from squirmingly erotic works. This is an essential read: contemporary, uni versal and ambitious. Some of the finest poets of our generation— finest poets, not just finest queer poets— are collected here. Women and men are equally represented, 23 poets each, people with almost every kind of poetic style, personal perspective and heritage. They range from well-established writers such as New York School poet Eileen Myles and Lambda Award winning writer Michael Lassell to young, up- and-coming queer voices such as Pushcart Prize nominee Mark Bibbins and novelist-poet Robyn Selman. Aren’t familiar with these names? It doesn’t matter. These are poems that speak of the uni versal queer experience. You will find yourself embedded in these pages. Check out the shiv- eringly sexual prose-poem “I Suck” by lesbian feminist poet Chrystos: My tongue is slow looking far the path down into the lights o f need I am her pleasure, focused I’m 'erased into the fruit o f her flow er- ing, colors spmning I follow her through fear Or take a look at doctor-tumed-writer Rafael Campos belly-punching poem about cultural loss, “Belonging”: • ■ .N o beach o f skulls To pick over, nothing but the same damn sun, Indifferent but oddly angry, the face My father wore at dinnertime. No amount of excerpts, however, can do this anthology justice. The poems, like the queer experience itself, are widely varied, diverse and unapologetic. These poems come shaped, rhymed, in prose and slivers, formal and informal, beat and classical, utterly literate and totally slammed. These poems speak of love and death and resentment and injustice and triumph and loss. A finer collection of queer poetry has not been gathered in the last 20 years, and we can only hope it’s a good sign for queer poetry in the future. Get your hands on this book. Read these poems to your . lover. Memorize your favorite parts. Quote them during your coffee break. These are, after T he to all, our most intricate, C om p lete shining, beautiful queer G ukk F ea tu rin g unique candles & accessories t .. .something fo r all occasions o 7%. " 'r ' “ I M allv Schmidt, • » i W 1 i 11 !lance xU aordmarv mm mm ■ ■ E l c ' 1902 NE Broadway 5 0 3 .2 8 1 .2 4 3 8 ^W on t0 m to Corner o f Sandy Blvd. & NE 64th 3 1 0 6 NE 64th Portland, OR 9 7 2 1 3 — Glenn Williams G ifts fo r R o m a n ce in a n E le g a n t S e ttin g G ood V ibrations : T he N ew C omplete G uide to V ibrators By Joani Blank with Ann Whidden. Down There Press, 2000; $8.50 softcover. any Just Out readers are probably familiar with the San Francisco Bay area company Good Vibrations. Since its inception in 1977, Good Vibra tions has unabashedly provided sex toys to the masses. Today, everything from strap-ons to “come cups” (vibrators intended for penile use), from instructive videos on G-spot stimu lation to tasty tubes of lube can be purchased from the retailer. The company boasts two stores, plus an award-winning catalog and Internet site. Founder Joani Black is committed to informa tive and self-affirming sex education. Dedicated to the art of “buzzing off,” The New Complete Guide to Vibrators is written with no holes barred. It even contains an amusing history of the devices, quoting a 1920s ad that promises “all the pleasures of youth will throb within you.” If you’re in the market for a vibrator, espe cially if you’re a novice, this book will help you make a match— it thoughtfully includes a chapter for first-timers. If you’re a seasoned vibrator owner, however, you still might glean new facts and suggestions. This book should appeal to everyone— straight or queer, male or female, none or all of the above. This book is inclusive and genuinely celebrates sex. It’s a quick 72-page read, and each vibrator discussed has an accompanying illustration, which helps explain the assorted functions of the multifaceted range of vibrators available in this age of technical wizardry. The book does plug Good Vibrations to a certain extent, bat why not? The company pioneered— and con tinues to promote— a worldview of sexual freedom. — MW ■ C atherine S ameh is the manager o f In Other Words W omen’s Books and Resources in Portland. C hristopher M c Q uain is a Portland water and bookworm. G lenn W illiams makes poetry, prose, plays, periodica and pom m Portland. M uffie W hite is a studio art major at Reed College who is living her own coming-of-agc dyke tale. ft* 4 My P¿C/iU+yt A Place of Romantic Invention 503 280 8080 w w w .telep o rt.co m / -p leasu re
