In the desert of the heart, let the healing fountain start. - Yeats
This work was inspired by the 1964 sapphic novel, “Desert of the Heart,” by Jane Rule. The desert in question was both a metaphor for emotions for Evelyn, a soon-to-be divorced English literature professor, and a reference to a place of belonging that Ann, a young misfit, finds comforting. Unlike most lesbian pulp fiction novels of the era, this one did not end in death or ruin for the two lovers. A movie was adapted from this novel in 1985. Rule’s writing, keen intellect and sense of social justice have been informative to my own development as a storyteller and as a human being.