Her opening words, "How do they do it,...", do not simply offer question, but carry a negative connotation of the speaker shaking her head and throwing up her hands in a disgusted manner. Reminiscent of a mother looking at her errant teenager and exclaiming, "How could you do such a thing?"! She then throws us off the path by referring to her characters as "beautiful as dancers".....maybe the initial impression was wrong? After all, that implied grace, and the same beauty we see in ice skaters, could lead us to think that this act might be quite lovely.

Then Olds returns us to her reality offering the coolness of ice and the slight detachment that professional ice skaters exhibit as they glide almost without seeming to touch the surface. The image of "fingers hooked inside each other's bodies" is so clinical and conveys that detached feeling once again. There is no implication of gentle touch, as she continues to describe the participants. The similes used to describe the overheat

She talks of the "true religious"..."the pros"..."ones who will not accept a false Messiah". This reference reminds us of her view of the lovemaking act as something spiritual, that should not be shared by those without love for each other. Line 16 continues with the reference to loving the "priest instead of the God", implying her belief that sex and God are intertwined. She expresses the feeling that these lovers are hypocrites, professing to the truly religious but by using sex purely for their own pleasure are accepting a false God and behaving immorally. The reference to not mistaking the Priest for God could represent Olds' believe that these people are, perhaps, not confusing their partner in the act (the Priest) for what Olds would consider the spiritual act (the God) of making love, as one should not confuse the spiritual leader for the God or religion they represent.

ed lovers, "faces red as steaks" and "wet as the children at birth" also carry the same theme. By comparing a lover's face to a piece of cold, raw beef she leaves us with the image of these people using each other like pieces of meat...weren't many "pick-up" places referred to as 'meat markets'? The reference to mothers giving their children "away" expresses the speaker's attitude that these people are likely being irresponsible and without consideration for the consequences of their actions. The paradox contained in the image "...fingers hooked inside (continuing through)...give them away" is difficult to determine. Perhaps the representati

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1034
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)