An Afternoon - A poem by Raymond Carver

As he writes, without looking at the sea, he feels the tip of his pen begin to tremble. The tide is going out across the shingle. But it isn't that. No, it's because at that moment she chooses to walk into the room without any clothes on. Drowsy, not even sure where she is for a moment. She waves the hair from her forehead. Sits on the toilet with her eyes closed, head down. Legs sprawled. He sees her through the doorway. Maybe she's remembering what happened that morning. For after a time, she opens one eye and looks at him. And sweetly smiles.

Comment 2 of 2, added on April 17th, 2009 at 10:27 AM.

i disagree, i think that his lover is not an image, but reality. The importance of the sea seems to contrast with the woman's importance, as well the waves of her hair with the waves in the sea; shes tamable.

Zach from United States

Comment 1 of 2, added on November 8th, 2004 at 5:56 AM.

doesn't everyone have those moments of complete vulnerability? The narrator seems to be trying to write something important when suddenly he is disturbed by a vision of his lover, and it is this sight that seems to make his task meaningless or impossible to achieve. Who can capture the beauty of this woman?, he seems to suggest. I love the unexpectedness of the line @but it isn't that@. What isn't that? Carver doesn't tell us, because he is so smithen with this image of his lover. how it disarms him, and all of us!

alan from Ireland

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