In 1900 in France, Natalie Clifford Barney released 'Quelques Portraits-Sonnets de Femmes,' a collection of lesbian love poetry. Upon discovering this, her father purchased all remaining copies and had them destroyed.

A few years later, Renée Vivien—who was Barney's lover—wrote and published her own lesbian poetry, which was quite explicit in its content.

Sharing one titled “The Touch” from her collection “The Muse of the Violets” -  

The trees have kept 

some lingering sun in their branches,
Veiled like a woman, evoking another time,
The twilight passes, weeping. My fingers climb,
Trembling, provocative, the line of your haunches.

My ingenious fingers wait when they have found
The petal flesh beneath the robe they part.
How curious, complex, the touch, this subtle art–
As the dream of fragrance, the miracle of sound.

I follow slowly the graceful contours of your hips,
The curves of your shoulders, your neck, your unappeased breasts.

In your white voluptuousness my desire rests,
Swooning, refusing itself the kisses of your lips.