Sex...

...without love. I love the use of similes that Sharon Olds uses at the beginning of the poem. I become intrigued as I read: "Beautiful as dancers, gliding over each other like ice-skaters". The title of the poem catches my attention because I immediately wonder if the poet is talking about sex literally or figuratively. Since I started reading poetry just a short time ago, I begin to think that she surely must be using "sex" figuratively. I'm surprised and I wonder if I am not reading far enough into the poet's meaning because I'm pretty sure she is talking about sex in the literal sense. So I read on… Olds uses words that profoundly draw a picture in my mind: "red as steak, wine, wet…" "light rising slowly as steam off their joined skin?" "the true religious, the purists, the pros…" I really like this poem it's different than what I have read before, it reads like something that truly relates to today's world.