Judy Grahn

Judy Grahn (born July 28, 1940) is an American poet and author.

Inspired by her experiences of disenfranchisement as a butch lesbian, she became a feminist poet, highly-regarded in underground circles before achieving public fame. A major influence in her work is Metaformic Theory, tracing the roots of modern culture back to ancient menstrual rites, though she does not regard the philosophy as exclusively feminist. Grahn teaches women's mythology and ancient literature at the California Institute of Integral Studies and other institutions.

Early life and education

Judy Rae Grahn was born in 1940 in Chicago, Illinois. Her father was a cook and her mother was a photographer's assistant. Grahn described her childhood as taking place in "an economically poor and spiritually depressed late 1950s New Mexico desert town near the hellish border of West Texas."

When she was eighteen, she eloped with a student named Yvonne at a nearby college. Grahn credits Yvonne with opening her eyes to gay culture. Soon after that she joined the United States Air Force. At twenty-one she was discharged (in a "less than honorable," manner, she stated) for being a lesbian.

Grahn experienced a fair amount of homophobia during the odd jobs she did to earn money for school, trying to find housing, and was beat up for her butch attire. "These jolts taught me everything I would ever need to know about the oppression of Gay people," she mentioned in an interview with Tongue.

At the age of 25, Grahn suffered from Inoculation lymphoreticulosis, or Cat Scratch Fever, which led to her being in a coma. After overcoming her illness, she realized that she wanted to become a poet. This realization was partially due to the abuse and mistreatment Grahn faced for being openly lesbian. Of the incident, Grahn stated "I realized that if I was going to do what I had set out to do in my life, I would have to go all the way with it and take every single risk you could take.... I decided I would not do anything I didn't want to do that would keep me from my art."

Grahn then moved to the west coast where she became active in the feminist poetry movement of the 1970s. During this period, many rumors surfaced pertaining to Grahn's weight and a possible eating disorder. Grahn attributes her thin frame to poor eating habits, smoking cigarettes, and drinking coffee.

She earned her PhD from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Until 2007, Grahn was the director of the Women's Spirituality (MA) and Creative Inquiry (MFA) programs at the New College of California. Grahn's poems circulated in "periodicals, performances, chapbooks, and by word of mouth, and were foundational documents of lesbian feminism."

In addition, lines from her Common Woman collection became "touchstones for the women's movement in the seventies, such as 'the common woman is as common as the best of bread/ and will rise.'" Backus argues that Grahn's "prophetic poetic voice" may be attributed to works such as "Lycidas" or that of the poets Shakespeare and Donne.

Personal life

From 1981 to 1986, Grahn lived in a committed relationship with poet and author, Paula Gunn Allen. The couple held regular Sunday gatherings at Mama Bears Coffeehouse and Bookstore on Telegraph Avenue in north Oakland California, to discuss topics related to women’s spirituality.

Today, Grahn lives in California and teaches at the California Institute of Integral Studies, the New College of California, and the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology. and a Founding Foremothers of Women's Spirituality Award. In 2022, she received the Second Annual Reginald Martin Award for Excellence in Criticism from PEN Oakland for Eruptions of Inanna: Justice, Gender, and Erotic Power.

Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction

In 1997, Publishing Triangle, an association of lesbians and gay men in publishing, established the Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction to recognize the best nonfiction book of the year affecting lesbian lives.

A Simple Revolution: the Making of an Activist Poet (Aunt Lute Books 2012).
with Gina Covina and Laurel Galana. The Lesbian Reader. Barn Owl Books (1975).
with Lisa Maria Hogeland. The Judy Grahn Reader. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books (2009).
Eruptions of Inanna: Justice, Gender, and Erotic Power. Nightboat Books (2021).

Fiction

Mundane's World. Crossing Press (1988).
The Work of a Common Woman: The Collected Poetry of Judy Grahn 1964–1977. Crossing Press (1984).
A Simple Revolution. Aunt Lute Books (November 27, 2012).

Poetry

The Common Woman Poems (Women's Press Collective 1970).
Edward the Dyke and Other Poems. (Women's Press Collective 1971).
A Woman is Talking to Death (Women's Press Collective 1974)
She Who (Women's Press Collective/Diana Press 1977).
The Work of a Common Woman: Collected Poetry (1964–1977). St. Martin's Press (1982).
The Queens of Wands. (Crossing Press 1982).
The Queen of Swords (Beacon Press 1987).
Love Belongs to Those Who Do the Feeling (1966-2006). Red Hen Press (2008). (Winner, 2009 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry)
Hanging on our Own Bones (Red Hen Press 2017).

Recordings

Detroit Annie Hitchhiking (2009)
Lunarchy (2010)

References

External links

A Simple Revolution: Community Dialogue with Judy Grahn website created by Aunt Lute Books honoring the history and legacy of the Bay Area lesbian movement
Modern American Poetry University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign website on Grahn: biographical information, analyses of several poems, excerpts from interviews. Companion to the Anthology of Modern American Poetry.
Serpentina website founded by Dianne Jenett and Judy Grahn to support research, projects, and social activism in women's spirituality.