The friend
The friend
Original Text
© Circles on the Water: Selected Poems of Marge Piercy (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982): 39. 811.54 P37.6 Toronto Public Library
1We sat across the table.
2he said, cut off your hands.
3they are always poking at things.
4they might touch me.
5I said yes.
6Food grew cold on the table.
7he said, burn your body.
8it is not clean and smells like sex.
9it rubs my mind sore.
10I said yes.
11I love you, I said.
12That's very nice, he said
13I like to be loved,
14that makes me happy.
15Have you cut off your hands yet?
Publication Start Year
1968
Publication Notes
Hanging Loose 5 (1968); Hard Loving: Poems by Marge Piercy (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1969): 24. PS 3566 I4H3 Robarts Library
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 2000.
Rhyme
Form
Special Copyright
<b>This poem cannot be published anywhere without the written consent of Marge Piercy, Leapfrog Press or Knopf permissions department.</b>