Section 2 > Exercise 6 > The science and art of sexuality
For this exercise, you can choose one of 2 following parallel sets of texts. Write your comments about either set, but be sure to read/listen to all 4 texts. If you wish, you can cross-reference readings.
Set 1--Anne Sexton's “Us”
Aaron Keriaty's “Sterilizing the Erotic”
Set 2--Anatomy text
Haydn Carruth's “The Woman's Genitals”
Set 1 First listen to Anne Sexton's poem “Us.” Anne_Sexton_Poem_Us.mov.
US
By Anne Sexton
I was wrapped in black
fur and white fur and
you undid me and then
you placed me in gold light
and then you crowned me,
while snow fell outside
the door in diagonal darts.
While a ten-inch snow
came down like stars
in small calcium fragments,
we were in our own bodies
(that room that will bury us)
and you were in my body
(that room that will outlive us)
and at first I rubbed your
feet dry with a towel
because I was your slave
and then you called me princess.
Princess!
Oh then
I stood up in my gold skin
and I beat down the psalms
and I beat down the clothes
and you undid the bridle
and you undid the reins
and I undid the buttons,
the bones, the confusions,
the New England postcards,
the January ten o'clock night,
And we rose up like wheat,
acre after acre of gold,
and we harvested,
we harvested.
Annotation
Discussion Questions:
- Does the poem violate any boundaries of taste or conventions?
- What constitutes its power (the strength of its effect)?
- How do you react to this poem?
- Be specific about your response. What does this poem tell you about the distance between the professional and the poetic language of sex?
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