Songs to a Handsome Woman
“Songs to a Handsome Woman,” must have been Rita Mae Brown’s companion book of poetry to her novel “In Her Day.” Both of them deal with a younger woman-older woman romance. The older woman is a well-known actress of stage and screen; and the younger woman is a writer and activist.
My guess is the older woman is Alexis Smith; and the younger woman is Rita Mae herself.
“Songs to a Handsome Woman” was published in 1973. Rita Mae is older today than Alexis Smith of the books. Funny how Time changes places – I wonder if Rita Mae has a younger woman courting her now.
Here’s one of my favorite poems from the book:
“Night, night
I grow sick of the night
For the flesh dreams
of flesh and dawns
Wrapped in lover’s arms
Fresh with the first nakedness.
Curse this night
That breeds such dreams
Torment
To awake
And find my empty bed.
Oh, woman
If mercy is not a myth
Come find me and these dreams.”
