Feminist and Lesbian Feminist Poetry Archive, 1970s

[Feminism][LGBTQ] Two collections of feminist and lesbian feminist poetry. Heather Smith’s Watch Out, Brother, I’m Here! and Remember Our Fire: Poetry by Women (& 3 men). Two booklets. Original printed wrappers. This archive includes two collections of radical feminist poetic expression in the early 1970s, capturing the genre-defiant voice of the Women’s Liberation movement in the Bay Area. These chapbooks were self-published or collectively issued and reflect the explicitly separatist and insurgent ethos of feminist writing culture during the period, mixing anger, erotic candor, grief, and celebration. Both booklets feature poems that challenge patriarchal (truncated) language, highlight lesbian experience, and reclaim historical and erotic narratives from male control. They are also vital documents of grassroots feminist publishing, composed in typewritten or mimeographed format and circulated outside commercial literary institutions.

[1] Smith, Heather. Watch Out, Brother, I’m Here!. Berkeley: Heather, 1971. First edition. Self-published feminist poetry chapbook by Heather Smith, printed “in the United States of Amerika,” explicitly allowing reprint only in “women’s owned and controlled media.” With bold visual design on powder blue wrappers and a cover illustration reprinted from It Ain’t Me Babe, the landmark feminist underground newspaper. The table of contents signals the work’s radical scope: poems such as “Liberation Haiku,” “Someday They’ll Put Me in Jail,” “Phyllis,” “After Arguing With a Man About What the Women’s Movement Should Be Doing,” and “Do You Like Me?” critique gendered social roles, romantic manipulation, and political debate. The voice is confessional, polemical, and deeply personal. A handwritten holiday gift inscription on the inside front cover adds provenance as a piece exchanged within a women’s community.
[2] [Various Authors]. Remember Our Fire: Poetry by Women (& 3 men). San Lorenzo, CA: Shameless Hussy Press, n.d. [c. early 1970s]. First edition. A mimeographed chapbook that includes contributions from Judy Grahn, Alta, Pat the Dyke, Susan Kreiger, Albert Masarik, and others. The tone ranges from defiant to mournful, with a special focus on women’s bodily autonomy and queer experience. Judy Grahn’s “I Have Come to Claim Marilyn Monroe’s Body” is a standout—a furious feminist reclamation of Monroe as a symbol of objectification and resilience. Alta’s searing “Avenge” reflects on sexual trauma and male political hypocrisy. Pat the Dyke’s work speaks to queer tenderness and erotic bonding (“somebody will call us / queer”). Albert Masarik’s contribution—a rare male-authored poem titled “Marilyn Monroe”—is included within a feminist context that reframes male nostalgia as complicit in cultural erasure. Cover illustration by Martha Root.
Together, these volumes offer a raw, undiluted snapshot of the feminist literary underground at a time when women reclaimed publishing as a site of resistance and poetic innovation. Booklets exhibit toning and light soiling to wrappers. "Watch Out Brother, I'm Here" bears ink inscription "Debbie + Adria/Happy Chanuka!/Love Debbie + Susie" on title page. Overall good to very good condition. A vital archive for collectors of feminist, LGBTQ+, and underground print culture. (Inventory #: 22031)