Erica Jong Poems

In the glass-bottomed boat
of our lives, we putter along
gazing at the other world
under the sea-
...

We used to strike sparks
off each other.
Our eyes would meet
or our hands,
...

At dusk Demeter
becomes afraid
for baby Persephone
lost in that hell
...

The raspberries
in my driveway
have always
been here
...

I have known the imperial power of secretaries,
the awesome indifference of receptionists,
I have been intimidated by desk & typewriter,
by the silver jaws of the stapler
...

My love is too much-
it embarrasses you-
blood, poems, babies,
red needs that telephone
...

You gave me a rose
last time we met.

I told myself
if it bloomed
...

At the furthermost reach of the sea
where Atlantis sinks under the wake of the waves,
I have come to heal my life.

I knit together like a broken arm.
...

When I am an old lady
the young men
will come to me
& sit trembling
...

I sit at my desk alone
as I did on many Sunday
afternoons when you came
back to me,
...