Common Speaking, November 1981, volume 1 number 1

androgene contrapposto Il

once or twice we went
sunbathing, me with my

shirt off, spilling gingerale

down my neck and chesf,

and you fell asleep, hair
sprayed between your arm and cheek,
and damp;

and the wind thrashed blossoms
from the ornamental trees

and flung them curled,

moist against my legs.

that was before the man in the suit
came. the man in the suit came
across the field and stood

with ants crawling up his shiny black
shoes and the grass in shreds on the soles
and said, “| wonder

if you would put your shirt on,

there are children who walls through
here, in fact one of my sons

has seen you, so would you

put your shirt on.”

“he lies,” | said, “see here,

all these red-white marks

across my breasts?” (he looked away.)
“when | hear voices, | roll over.

| lie on my stomach.

they can look at my back all

they want. that’s all.

just my back.” and my legs

with the beautiful black-gold hair,
opaque as any good stockings.

the man in the suit goes home.
tonight I'll be his dinner quest,
sprawled and wanton on

the kitchen table

one hand between my legs,

one on a breast,

leering at his wife who

pauses, momentarily,

then puts another saucer in the sink.

later I'll hear | danced,
naked, on his front lawn.

but first you woke, cold wind

on your neck, and gathered

the textbooks, the towels,

the gingerale, brushed the grass
from the wrinkles of your elbows.
| reclaimed my teeshirt

from the sticky ground,

stuffed it past my shoulders to my shorts
and tucked it in; and you went home.

and | went to work; where

| took off my shirt again, standing

in a clay-stale studio

with terrazzo floors and five

legally but not completely

blind sculptors,

and very bright lights for hours

and they complained they couldn't
see my hips. so | unzipped my jeans
but they said, “no, it's much too cold,
it's much too chill, you mustn't,

you'll get pneumonia, we'll do your hips
next week.”

this week | am

the winged victory of samofthrace.
their putty is absurd compared

to what | see: shoulders malachite;
legs, the wings

and no armature.

“| like this more than paint,” one says,
because with sculpture | can feel

if your breasts are the right size.”

my breasts are the right size

and in the right place :

and when | check later they are

still there, when after supper and tea
the earnest photographer stops by
and after photos of my hands
requests “not cheesecake,” (blushes)
but if you'd just—”

his film is black and white and

his shutter is just as fast

as the tic above his lip.

he would prefer I'd dress before

| answer the door.

but if you could see

what happens in the mirror
when | am

bent to my own stance,

rattan round my bones,
sweat trembling down my ribs:

sandalwood, rust; copper

faced on hips the white of garlic,
lucent white

and | am the androgene contrapposto
and the smell of sawdust, twine.

© Shoshana T. Danie!







-¥

Sunday-Monday, November 45-
416: Disarmament Conference:- *
The Arms Race and Us. The Fourth
Annual Disarmament Conference
will be held at the Riverside
Church in New York City.
Following the session in N.Y.C., the
Swarthmore WILPF group will go
to Washington, D.C. on
November 17.

Sunday-Monday, November 15-
16: Women’s Pentagon Action.
Women's groups return to the
Pentagon to protest Reagan
Administration policies. Contact:
Becky Hall, Shoshana Kerewsky or
Women's Pentagon Action, 339
Lafayette St., New York, NY.
10002 (202) 483-4284, or see
the Women’s Center board.

Saturday, November 214: Artists
for Choice. A benefit for the
Reproductive Rights Organiz-
ation. Performing will be the
Avante Theatre Company, Anna
Crusis Women’s Choir, Edwina Lee
Tyler, and A Piece of the
World: Women’s Percussion and
Dance Ensemble, N.Y.C., Sonya
Sanchez: Poet, Augusta Clarke:-
Philadelphia Councilwoman,
Jean Hunt for the Reproductive
Rights Organization. $7 general,
$10 sponsor, $4 limited income.
Cavalry United Methodist Church
at 48th and Baltimore, 8:00 p.m.
Tickets in advance: Giovanni's
Room; Judson's Bookstore,
Progress Plaza, 1500 N. Broad
Street; Maplewood Cheese
Shop, Maplewood Mall,
Germantown; Christian Assoc-
iation, 34th and Locust Wall, U. of
Penn.

Sunday, November 22: Tea for
Russian Women.Swarthmore
WILPF has been asked to help
entertain three delegates to the
US*Soviet Women’s Seminar at
Bryn Mawr. Two of the visitors will
be Soviet delegates. The three
women will be visiting
Swarthmore until Wednesday,
November 25. If you would like to
help entertain them call Betty
McCorkel at 544-6769 around
dinner time.