I have not been there many times. On two separate occasions l entered the surroundings Though many times I thought I was at that place. There were the children, amorous, and l who could have been their mother, Lovesick with them. Though restless and seeking many places, we observe more than the bird does, with more longings. Though I too have a home, I find comfort in denying it. There are many homes. They choose you. Perhaps I would give much for assurance. I have never been offered a bargain. An old game played by two persons throwing three dice, This too is passage. In my house the passage from the door leads to the kitchen then off to the bath. I take long baths putting milk on my face leaving the door open to the smells of the kitchen. But it is all in passing in a hasty manner cursorily that I continue. Carole Glasser Carole Glasser is a songwriter and a poet. She lives in an apartment with a large terrace and a large dog.

I was not going to say how you lay with me nor where your hands went & left their light impressions nor whose face was white as a splash of moonlight nor who spilled the wine nor whose blood stained the sheet nor which one of us wept to set the dark bed rocking nor what you took me for nor what I took you for nor how your fingertips in me were roots light roots torn leaves put down¬ nor what you tore from me nor what confusion came of our twin names nor will I say whose body opened, sucked, whispered like the ocean, unbalancing what had seemed a safe position Joan Larkin Reprinted by permission of the author from Housework, (Out & Out Books), copyright © 1975 by Joan Larkin. Joan Larkin’s first book of poems is entitled . She is co-editor of . Both books were published by Out and Out Books, a women’s independent press she helped to start in 1975.