Last night Sharon Olds
Last Night
The next day, I am almost afraid.
Love? It was more like dragonflies in the sun, 100 degrees at noon, the ends of their abdomens stuck together, I close my eyes when I remember. I hardly knew myself, like something twisting and twisting out of a chrysalis, enormous, without language, all head, all shut eyes, and the humming like madness, the way they writhe away, and do not leave, back, back, away, back. Did I know you? No kiss, no tenderness–more like killing, death-grip holding to life, genitals like violent hands clasped tight barely moving, more like being closed in a great jaw and eaten, and the screaming
I groan to remember it, and when we started to die, then I refuse to remember, the way a drunkard forgets. After, you held my hands extremely hard as my body moved in shudders like the ferry when its axle is loosed past engagement, you kept me sealed exactly against you, our hairlines wet as the arc of a gateway after a cloudburst, you secured me in your arms till I slept– that was love, and we woke in the morning clasped, fragrant, buoyant, that was the morning after love.
Claim:
The poem is about a person who fell in love. They were surprised by this, because it was a whirlwind romance and unexpected. The author is surprised by the love and also a little afraid by it. The writer uses metaphors and analysis to set out the scene. There is a sexual theme throughout the poem. After sex they embraced and held each other, then when the subject wakes up they feel the joy of it. I see it as love described in all its brutality and the moment is described as being completely lost in a moment. Maybe it’s a one night stand, or maybe it’s all about falling in love for the first time. It may not necessarily be the first time that they had sex, but it’s definitely the first time that they were in love. I also think it is interesting that we do not know the gender of the subject in the poem.
The next day, I am almost afraid.
Love? It was more like dragonflies in the sun, 100 degrees at noon, the ends of their abdomens stuck together, I close my eyes when I remember. I hardly knew myself, like something twisting and twisting out of a chrysalis, enormous, without language, all head, all shut eyes, and the humming like madness, the way they writhe away, and do not leave, back, back, away, back. Did I know you? No kiss, no tenderness–more like killing, death-grip holding to life, genitals like violent hands clasped tight barely moving, more like being closed in a great jaw and eaten, and the screaming
I groan to remember it, and when we started to die, then I refuse to remember, the way a drunkard forgets. After, you held my hands extremely hard as my body moved in shudders like the ferry when its axle is loosed past engagement, you kept me sealed exactly against you, our hairlines wet as the arc of a gateway after a cloudburst, you secured me in your arms till I slept– that was love, and we woke in the morning clasped, fragrant, buoyant, that was the morning after love.
Claim:
The poem is about a person who fell in love. They were surprised by this, because it was a whirlwind romance and unexpected. The author is surprised by the love and also a little afraid by it. The writer uses metaphors and analysis to set out the scene. There is a sexual theme throughout the poem. After sex they embraced and held each other, then when the subject wakes up they feel the joy of it. I see it as love described in all its brutality and the moment is described as being completely lost in a moment. Maybe it’s a one night stand, or maybe it’s all about falling in love for the first time. It may not necessarily be the first time that they had sex, but it’s definitely the first time that they were in love. I also think it is interesting that we do not know the gender of the subject in the poem.