I believe that there are two kinds of love in this world:

inherited and handmade. Yes, we inherit love
but my people, my people make love by hand.
—From “Handmade Love”


In her first collection, Julie R. Enszer offers poems that are as unabashedly erotic as they are unabashedly feminist.

Whether responding to queer cultural icons, fantasizing about sex, or mourning illness and loss, these poems are sweet and sultry, fierce and tender.

From demonstrations on the streets to bedroom romps, these smart and sexy poems interweave narrative and lyrical moments with the political and the sensuous.

Handmade Love renders a world that delights in the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and tells queer life stories sublimely and generously.


Julie R. Enszer has published poems in Room of One’s Own, Long Shot, Feminist Studies, Bridges, So to Speak, Suspect Thoughts, Windy City Times, and many other journals. She has a MFA in poetry from the University of Maryland.


Handmade Love
By Julie R. Enszer
From A Midsummer’s Night Press
US: $11.95
ISBN-13: 978-0-9794208-5-6
Order today from www.amidsummernightspress.com, Amazon.com, or, for an autographed copy,
email JulieREnszer@gmail.com.