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Is this poem about lesbian sex?
My literature teacher claims that it is. I don't see it though.
Crab - Fleur Adcock
Late at night we wrench open a crab,
flesh bursts out of its cup
in pastel colours. The dark fronds attract me.
Poison, you say, Dead Men's Fingers -
don't put them in your mouth, stop!
They brush over my tongue, limp and mossy,
until you snatch them from me, as you snatch
yourself, gently, if i come too close.
Here are the permitted parts of the crab,
wholesome on their nests of lettuce
and we are safe again in words.
All day the kitchen smells of sea.
5 Answers
- classmateLv 71 decade agoFavourite answer
Images of fish and the sea are sometimes used to describe the smell of a woman's genitals. That description can be a rude joke or a sexist put-down, but it can also be used positively and lovingly. With that in mind, "All day the kitchen smells of sea" could be intended to suggest something like "All day the house smells of last night's lovemaking," and the lines about mouth, tongue, and the pastel colours of crab flesh could be meant to suggest oral sex. The lines "until you snatch them from me, as you snatch/yourself, gently, if I come too close" could be about a lover pulling away from unwanted contact with some off-limits body part. (Although it's possible that those lines refer to a pulling away that's emotional rather than physical.) So your teacher could be right, but it's not a sure thing.
- Anonymous5 years ago
If it is, it's got to be the worst depiction of lesbian sex ever. What do crabs and dead men's fingers have to do with us?
- Anonymous1 decade ago
No haha
