ANCIENT BATTLEFIELDS

Perhaps we were soldiers together,
You a fierce captain,
And I your tenacious lieutenant.

Sometimes I sense in our power struggle
An urgency for victory distinctly male
On both our parts.

And in our love-making
Sometimes the grimace of brutality,
A need to mark submission,
A need to show who's field grade
And who isn't.

Yes, I think, my lover,
We have been before,
On other beds and battlefields
And doubtless Greek.

(Published in SEARCH, No.1, 1982.)

I AM ANIMA