By Lisa Dordal
Special to Lesbian.com

Through deeply personal and culturally grounded narratives, Water Lessons explores the relationship between reality and imagination, faith and doubt, presence and absence, as the speaker grapples with multiple dimensions of grief arising from her mother’s alcoholism and eventual death; her father’s deepening dementia; and her own childlessness. Against the backdrop of these personal griefs, the speaker scrutinizes the patriarchal underpinnings of the world she grew up in as well as her complicity in systemic racism as a white girl growing up in the 70s and 80s. Woven throughout the book are the speaker’s meditations on a divine presence that, for her, is both keenly felt and necessarily elusive, mirroring the speaker’s ultimate celebration of her unborn daughter as a “lovely fiction” who is both here and not here.

I Love

I love how my wife says operators are standing by,
whenever I’m out of town and she wants to chat.

I love that birds can see stars and that even fruit flies need sleep.

I love that an African grey parrot learned how to use 100 words
and that his last words were: Be good and I love you.

I love how Jesus stopped a crowd of men from stoning a woman just by writing in the sand.

I love that an octopus has three hearts.

I love that Mother Theresa only heard from God one time, and it was enough.

I love that some birds mate for life—and that after one dies,
the survivor sings both parts of their song.

I love that our brains are mostly water.

I love that some people believe in heaven. And some don’t.

I love that an owl visited my wife in a dream and that my wife said hello and asked:
Are you the kind of owl that people refer to as a barred owl?

I love that what saves one person is not the same as what saves someone else.

I love how the word cranium sounds like the name of a flower.

I love that my mother keeps wanting to show me her garden.

I love that the owl answered back.

My Mother Is a Peaceful Ghost

In my dreams my mother keeps walking out of the kitchen singing
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.

She never sings past the first verse.

Last night, I dreamed I was back at the house—
every light on when I arrived. My mother, forgetting

she was dead, smiled, said she was fine, everything
was fine. At family gatherings—weddings, baptisms—

my mother would look around, sort of stunned,
and say: There’re so many of you! As if

we’d arrived from some place other than her
own body, a country foreign to her. My mother

is no longer flesh or breath. She’s not a thing
anymore. Is she with God?

Some days I believe, some days I don’t.
Centuries ago, in a church in Europe,

someone carved God Help Us into a pew.
Plague years. Sometimes my god is so big,

I wonder what’s the use. Divinity
diluted into nothingness. My mother

tried to stop drinking. I stopped, she told me once.
Like you’d stop a dryer or a washing machine.

We were standing in the Blackwater Falls gift shop
looking at coffee mugs printed with maps.

West Virginia on one side, waterfalls on the other.
One mug had a gold star to mark the visitor center.

You Are Here, on a travel mug. Here and
not here. How do you name what isn’t here?

She tried to stop. And didn’t.

Lisa Dordal (M.Div., M.F.A.) teaches in the English Department at Vanderbilt University and is the author of Mosaic of the Dark, which was a finalist for the 2019 Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry, and Water Lessons (April 2022), which was a finalist for the Poets Out Loud Prize from Fordham University Press. She is a Pushcart Prize and Best-of-the-Net nominee and the recipient of an Academy of American Poets Prize (judged by Phillis Levin), the Robert Watson Poetry Prize (from the Greensboro Review), and the Betty Gabehart Poetry Prize from the Kentucky Women Writers Conference. Her poetry has appeared in numerous journals including The Sun, Narrative, RHINO, New Ohio Review, The Greensboro Review, Best New Poets, Ninth Letter, CALYX, and Vinyl. For more information, please visit her website: lisadordal.com.

The post Celebrate National Poetry Month with Water Lessons by Lisa Dordal first appeared on Lesbian.com.

BY CARLY THOMAS
Very Special to Lesbian.com
“With a strong, clear voice, thick with emotion, Carly’s skillfully crafted songs are underpinned with a sincerity and truth that enthralls, she grabs listeners attention with gutsy stories of love and witty onstage banter, yet Carly isn’t afraid to expose her heart in order to help her listeners mend theirs. We can’t wait to hear what’s next.”

Hello friends and supporters of Independent music!

My name is Carly Thomas.

Over the past year I have been piecing together my next release, and now I am welcoming you to be a part of its creation. This is a collection of songs I’ve been carrying with me for the past few years, quietly waiting for their time to shine . While I rustled through all of the moments and melodies, I decided on ten songs to bring to life and send them off into this wicked world. With the help of some amazing collaborators and musicians, we are creating a record of high caliber and a true expression of the journey I have been on as an artist and human.

SUPPORT CARLY’S NEW ALBUM.

To continue the work, I am inviting you to take part in the making of this album. I would be nowhere if it weren’t for my amazing friends, family, and fans. I consider myself so extremely lucky – with your love and support I have been able to follow my own path and live a life of purpose and creativity. Thank you.

When you support this project, you are directly contributing to my musical vision without compromise. You are directly contributing to the livelihood of musicians and friends of mine in an industry that has faced some major challenges this year. You are directly contributing to me as an artist, an artist who is building a career that is deeply rooted in creative integrity.

I want to inspire and be inspired by the world around me, and continue to grow personally and professionally while doing and sharing what I am passionate about. You are a true patron of the arts and in a time when it is needed the most, Thank You.

What exactly you are supporting:

– Pre-production sessions
– Hiring of independent session players: guitar, drums, piano, strings, bass, and more.
– Studio costs
– Producer/Engineer costs
– Mixing and Mastering
– Artwork and design
– Marketing and PR

I am asking you to be a part of this with me, and in return I’ve got some great rewards and unique perks that will only be available for this fundraising campaign. I can’t wait to share what I have been working on!

The road to success is filled with twists and turns, especially in a constantly changing ever evolving industry. Especially in 2020. Thank you for joining me on this journey.

The post Inspire and be inspired by Carly Thomas and her new album first appeared on Lesbian.com.

The post The World To Come first appeared on Lesbian.com.

From award-winning writer/director Wendy Jo Carlton, (Easy Abby, Jamie and Jessie are Not Together), comes this fresh, romantic ride, brimming with mind games and erotic tension. Kate and Jenna want to spice up their relationship by opening it up to a third and plan a date with the enchanting Mia. Jenna becomes enthralled with Mia’s sexual confidence and charm, and as they spend the evening dancing, drinking tequila, and sharing secrets, the women become entangled physically and emotionally. But what was intended as a night of fun soon exposes the cracks in Kate and Jenna’s relationship. Careful what you wish for.

Follow @goodkissermovie on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest release updates.

Watch on WolfeOnDemand.com.

The post Good Kisser first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Bonus Material on the DVD will include four behind-the-scenes featurettes and deleted scenes. Order today!

The post More Beautiful for Having Been Broken first appeared on Lesbian.com.

104 min
German with English Subtitles

The post ‘Seventeen’ tells story of secret lesbian crushes at boarding school first appeared on Lesbian.com.

From Director Stephen Cone, who also directed award-winning films THE WISE KIDS and HENRY GAMBLE’S BIRTHDAY PARTY.

For more info and images, see http://princesscyd.com/

The post Princess Cyd first appeared on Lesbian.com.

It is a tough and tender story about friendship, first love, and letting go of the glory days, starring Seána Kerslake (Can’t Cope/Won’t Cope, The Lobster), Tara Lee (Raw, The Fall) and Charleigh Bailey.

For more information and images, see  http://madmaryfilm.com

The post A Date For Mad Mary first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Sweden’s Queen Kristina was an enigmatic, flamboyant, and unpredictable woman centuries ahead of her time who ascended the throne at age six, was raised as a prince, and strived to bring peace and education to her country—while pursuing an illicit romance with her female royal attendant. Growing up as a tomboy with a strong intellectual appetite, young Kristina (an electric Malin Buska) finds herself thrown into a political frenzy as a teenager. Saddled with the Thirty Years War between Protestants and Catholics, Kristina steers her country away from the conservatives while privately grappling with her own sexual awakening, in the form of Countess Ebba Sparre (the radiant Sarah Gadon), her lovely lady-in-waiting. Her quest to understand love runs parallel with her quest to understand humanity and the violent and restrictive forces conspiring against her. Torn between the conflict of political and personal aspirations, Kristina chooses to make one of the most controversial decisions in history.

The film’s epic screenplay by Michel Marc Bouchard (Lilies, Tom at the Farm) is brought to the screen by esteemed director Mika Kaurismäki. The Girl King stars Malin Buska (Easy Money, Happy End) in the title role as well as Sarah Gadon (Belle, Enemy, Cosmopolis, The Amazing Spiderman 2, Dracula Untold), Michael Nyqvist (Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Lucas Bryant (Haven, The Vow), Laura Birn (Purge, Inner Trial), Hippolyte Giradot (Lady Chatterly), Peter Lohmeyer (The Miracle of Bern, Killer Condom), Francois Arnaud (The Borgias), Patrick Bauchau (Boy Culture) and Martina Gedeck (Night Train to Lisbon, The Nun, The Lives of Others).

The post The Girl King first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Co-directed by esteemed lesbian filmmaker Kate Johnston and actress Shauna MacDonald, this wonderful love story is filled with grace and humor.

Winner of 11 LGBT film festival awards and counting!

The post Tru Love first appeared on Lesbian.com.