• Home
  • Browse by…
    • Browse by Genre
      • Children’s
      • Comics
        • Manga
      • General Fiction
        • Adventure
        • Anthologies
        • Crime
        • Fairy Tales
        • Lesbian Pulp Fiction
        • Literary Fiction
        • Novellas
        • Retellings
        • Series
        • Short Stories
        • Thrillers
      • Historical Fiction
        • 1920s
        • Regency
      • Horror
        • Vampires
        • Zombies
      • Mystery
      • Memoirs
      • Nonfiction
        • Biographies
        • Essays
        • History
      • Poetry
      • Romance
        • Butch/Femme
      • Erotica
        • BDSM
      • SFF
        • Sci Fi
          • Dystopia
        • Fantasy
          • Mythical Creatures
            • Mermaids
            • Witches
          • Paranormal
          • Steampunk
          • Urban Fantasy
      • Young Adult
    • Browse by Rating
      • 5 Stars
      • 4 Stars
      • 3 Stars
      • 2 Stars
      • 1 Star
    • Browse by Representation
      • POC Content
        • Main Characters of Color
        • Black Representation
        • Asian Representation
        • Latina Representation
        • Indigenous Representation
      • Authors of Color
        • Black Authors
        • Asian Authors
        • Latina Authors
        • Indigenous Authors
      • Lesbian Representation
        • Lesbian Authors
      • Bisexual Representation
        • Bisexual Authors
      • Trans Representation
        • Trans Authors
        • Nonbinary Representation
      • Asexual Representation
        • Asexual Authors
      • Disability Representation
      • Neurodiverse Representation
      • Mental Health
    • Browse by Reviewer
      • Danika Ellis
      • Alice P.
      • Amanda Růžičková
      • Anna N.
      • Caelin
      • Casey
      • Emilia Ferrante
      • Emory Rose
      • Ire
      • Jamie Rose
      • Jazelle
      • Kody
      • Laurel
      • Liv
      • Meagan Kimberley
      • Nat
      • Rachel Friars
      • Raquel R. Rivera
      • Sritama Sen
      • Susan
      • Susanne Salehi
      • Theo
      • Til
      • Vic
  • Recommendations List
  • About
  • Review Policy
  • Support the Lesbrary
  • Advertise with the Lesbrary

The Lesbrary

Sapphic Book Reviews

Lesbrary Reviews, Uncategorized

Tag reviews A Distant Footstep On the Plain by Stephanie Byrd

November 12, 2013 by Danika Ellis

adistantFootstep
A Distant Footstep on the Plain is a collection of poetry at its finest, its most ragged and painful, and its most hopeful. The primary focus is on things that personally affect Byrd: racism, classism, poverty, and relationships with women. Byrd doesn’t hold back at all whether she’s writing about the experience of racism (“so I rose and each blow / was aimed to cripple / but I rose / against this violence” – p. 20) or her feelings for women, her feelings on class issues or anything else. Her pain and her hope is real and unashamed in each line, and they’re two sides of the same coin rather than some poems being about despair, and some about hope. In all of Byrd’s pieces in A Distant Footstep on the Plain are raw feeling with the type of elegance you find expressed in everyday life. The contrast between poems like “Sci Fi” and “Trust” is strong but still carries an undeniable similarity. These are poems written from the heart of a black woman who makes it very clear women are who she wants to sleep with (“yes sugar, I wanted to fuck you / and didn’t give a damn about Beethoven or your mind” – Sci Fi, p. 31). It’s a very specific experience and I have to admit that as a white woman I’m sure I didn’t catch all of the references. Within that experience though are things that affect us all, such as the bitterness a person can feel in a relationship when they’re feeling neglected (Telephone Call).
All in all, this brief collection of Byrd’s poetry is raw and painful but a really good read that I would encourage anyone and everyone to go through at least once. It gave me a lot to think about, put things in perspective of intersectionality. It’s important, I think, for everyone to read the works of queer women of colour and really think about them and what they mean to the writers, to us, and to everyone as a whole. I won’t lie and say this was an easy read; beyond its being painful and drawing me out of my comfort zone, the text itself was sometimes difficult to get through. There are a lot of metaphors I still don’t quite understand, but even if it’s dense reading material I did enjoy it enough that I’m sure I’ll be going back and revisiting this collection, hopefully picking up something new every time I read it.
[Editor’s note: This chapbook is available for free in ebook format!]
Categories: Lesbrary Reviews, Uncategorized
Tags: , poetry, Stephanie Byrd, tag

Related Posts

Quinn Jean reviews Taking Flight by Siera Maley
Silk & Steel coverSurprise and Delight Yourself with Silk & Steel: A Queer Speculative Adventure Anthology
Link Round Up: October 12 – 18
Danika reviews Hild by Nicola Griffith
Previous:
Anna M. reviews Homestead by Radclyffe
Next:
Link Round Up: November 7 – 13

Comments

  1. Julie R Enszer says

    November 12, 2013 at 1:00 pm

    Thanks for reviewing Byrd’s chapbook!

About Me

About the Lesbrary

The Lesbrary is a sapphic book blog that started in 2010. It's run by Danika Ellis, and we have about a dozen reviewers from around the world recommending sapphic books in every genre. Check out the top navigation bar for more about the Lesbrary as well as options to browse by genre, age category, rating, and more.

Sapphic Book Blogs

  • Bi and Lesbian Literature: The Lesbrary's tumblr
  • Autostraddle's Books Coverage
  • I Heart Sapphfic
  • The Lesbian Review
  • Okazu: Yuri Manga

Queer Book Blogs

  • Book Riot's LGBTQ Coverage
  • Gay League: LGBT Comics
  • Lambda Literary
  • LGBTQ Reads
  • LGBTQ Reads tumblr
  • Our Queerest Shelves: My LGBTQ Books Newsletter at Book Riot.
Theme by SkyandStars.co
Back Top

Copyright © 2025