Backtalk by Robin Becker

'As its title suggests, Backtalk, published in 1982, highlights the poet’s cheeky refusal to accept cultural norms. The volume contains some of Becker’s most lyrical lesbian love poems, and while some of these again focus on the impe¬ diments to lesbian love, they deliciously evoke triumphant moments. “We dis¬ turb the difficult compromises / with our steady wanting of each other, / but for a moment the afternoon light falls on your shoulder, our intimacy is loosed / into the air, and you move easily / down the path, parting the prairie grass” (“Women in Love”).' ~ Leslie Lawrence