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Anne Sexton - When Man Enters Woman

When man,
enters woman,
like the surf biting the shore,
again and again,
and the woman opens her mouth with pleasure
and her teeth gleam
like the alphabet,
Logos appears milking a star,
and the man
inside of woman
ties a knot
so that they will
never again be separate
and the woman
climbs into a flower
and swallows its stem
and Logos appears
and unleashes their rivers.

This man,
this woman
with their double hunger,
have tried to reach through
the curtain of God
and briefly they have,
through God
in His perversity
unties the knot.

Added: on January 5th, 2005 at 11:42 PM | Viewed: 8879 times | Comments and analysis of When Man Enters Woman by Anne Sexton Comments (3)


When Man Enters Woman - Comments and Information

Poet: Anne Sexton
Poem: When Man Enters Woman
Volume: The Awful Rowing To God
Year: Published/Written in 1975
Poem of the Day: May 31 2006

Comment 3 of 3, added on June 1st, 2006 at 10:02 AM.

I can't get tired reading this wonderful poem. Now This poem is in my mind like the waves on the beach
telling me there is something else again and again...
Bravo Anne Sexton

yan n rolland from France
Comment 2 of 3, added on April 19th, 2006 at 2:03 PM.

Sexton's short poems tend to much more bold in their statements. This particular one caught my eye.

Mary from Ireland
Comment 1 of 3, added on January 5th, 2005 at 11:42 PM.

There is a typo here at the end. The last line should read, "though God in his perversity" not "through". This makes a big difference as "through" indicates that through God the male lover has untied the knot, which makes a different point than what Sexton intended.

Elizabeth Holliday from United States

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