Selected Poems by Eevy O’Connor

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Biography of Eevy O’Connor

Eevy was 19 years old and attended Stanford when she wrote these works. Originally from St. Anthony, IA, Eevy’s story begins with her grandmother’s story. A refined and liberated woman from Dublin, Ireland, who settled in San Francisco, Aoifa O’Connor never took her husband’s name. She ran a dance hall and bar catering to the LGBT community near the historic Stonewall Inn. After the riots, Aoifa took her young daughter, Maribelle, to Iowa for relative safety. Aoifa’s husband, Bert, remained in San Francisco at his law practice furthering a social justice agenda. They had both agreed it would be better for Maribelle to be away from California for a while. Maribelle O’Connor never married and gave birth to Eevy when she was 18. The three women lived together in St. Anthony. Aoifa never returned to San Francisco because Bert was shot and killed outside the courthouse after receiving a conviction in a landmark case where he prosecuted three men in the savage beating of a young transgender woman in an alleyway. They were found guilty of a hate crime.

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Eevy greatly admired her grandmother and was very close to her. Maribelle, Eevy’s mother, was a practical woman and worked in retail at a women’s fashion store, which allowed Eevy and Aoifa ample bonding time.

Aoifa always felt stifled and out of place in small town Iowa. She had few companions beside Eevy and was frequently treated as an outcast by the town’s conservative culture. Aoifa also suffered from major depression and despite therapy and medication she only suffered more and more after Bert was killed. She always felt she should have been there for him. Despite Eevy’s company and diligent care,Aoifa committed suicide when Eevy was 15. Eevy found her. Subsequently, Eevy spent about 3 months in a psychiatric hospital, to which she submitted herself. She was sexually victimized by a member of the staff and thus was unable to fully recover from the shock of Aoifa’s death.

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Maribelle brought Eevy home and they did the best they could. Eevy, a smart girl, got a full scholarship to Stanford. She desperately wanted to go to school near the city her grandmother loved so. She saw San Francisco and Stanford as a chance to immerse herself in the diversity and incredible culture such a place provides. She finally followed in her Grandpa Bert’s footsteps and became an attorney for the most vulnerable of society. She is currently living and practicing in San Francisco with her wife, Lily, and their three children, Max, Aoifa, and Liberty, aka Libby.