Sharon Olds is among The United States' leading contemporary poets. She is distinguished by her deeply personal, emotional works and for them has been awarded titles such as the Pulitzer Prize and many others. Olds was born and raised in California and threw her unique style shares her deepest thoughts and memories.
"Sex Without Love"by Sharon Olds
How do they do it, the ones who make love
without love? Beautiful as dancers,
gliding over each other like ice-skaters
over the ice, fingers hooked
inside each other's bodies, faces
red as steak, wine, wet as the
children at birth whose mothers are going to
give them away. How do they come to the
come to the come to the God come to the
still waters, and not love
the one who came there with them, light
rising slowly as steam off their joined
skin? These are the true religious,
the purists, the pros, the ones who will not
accept a false Messiah, love the
priest instead of the God. They do not
mistake the lover for their own pleasure,
they are like great runners: they know they are alone
with the road surface, the cold, the wind,
the fit of their shoes, their over-all cardio-
vascular health--just factors, like the partner
in the bed, and not the truth, which is the
single body alone in the universe
against its own best time.
without love? Beautiful as dancers,
gliding over each other like ice-skaters
over the ice, fingers hooked
inside each other's bodies, faces
red as steak, wine, wet as the
children at birth whose mothers are going to
give them away. How do they come to the
come to the come to the God come to the
still waters, and not love
the one who came there with them, light
rising slowly as steam off their joined
skin? These are the true religious,
the purists, the pros, the ones who will not
accept a false Messiah, love the
priest instead of the God. They do not
mistake the lover for their own pleasure,
they are like great runners: they know they are alone
with the road surface, the cold, the wind,
the fit of their shoes, their over-all cardio-
vascular health--just factors, like the partner
in the bed, and not the truth, which is the
single body alone in the universe
against its own best time.
Through the usage of diction and language in this piece, Olds creates a judgmental tone. Immediately I recognize the "temperature". Sharon starts the poem illustrating two lovers as "ice skaters" and towards the end of the poem she describes the "cold" and "wind" of loneliness. This usage of language is ironic because usually sex is described as hot and sometimes (sorry) sweaty. Olds is trying to reveal the internal meaning of this loveless intercourse for its cold, clinical, selfish nature. Olds describes the external aspect of sex to be "beautiful" and compares the lovers to a "wet child". Providing the scene with a newboen emphasizes the true gift of life, and (what I'm assuming the author's opinion) the true purpose of sex. She then attacks people who partake in this meaningless sex for hypocrites and scoffs at them for considering themselves religious when they are actually committing a severe sin. The rest of the poem describes the inner loneliness that accompanies an empty love life in which the auther makes a comparison to runners, so that readers may understand her point simply.
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