Poet Linda Gregg often writes about her own life or similar situations. Her marriage and subsequent divorce with fellow poet Jack Gilbert led to a series of works about the end of relationships. Love gained and lost are found in much of her poetry, in addition to the never-ending determination to directly confront and come to terms with suffering. Her work is cut down narrative, with brief personal reflections dealing with intimate mental and physical experiences.  The works often fall into the category of confessional poetry where the speaker describes her confused state of mind, which becomes a metaphor for the condition of the world around her.

             By starting out with the quote from Nietzsche, Gregg provides insight into the rest of the poem that follows. Actually, the quote comes a play about Nietzsche called "Madaman of Weimar," where the unbalanced Nietzsche claims: "I have no time for festivals, no time for love, for marriage, for children! It is a dear price a man pays for being immortal: he must die many times over during his life. I draw circles around me and holy boundaries." However, the real Nietzsche believed in life, creativity, health, and the other realities of this world, rather than those situated in a world beyond. Central to Nietzsche's philosophy was the idea of life-affirmation, which involves an honest questioning of all doctrines that drain life's energies.

             It seems that Gregg is saying to find that middle ground between blindly accepting something in life regardless of the consequences, or completely refusing to do something because of those same consequences. Throughout the poem, there are references to choosing between these alternatives. The woman in the poem gives thought to seeing a married man for several days and then decides to go ahead with her desires. Both of the lovers, he actually more than she, are eager for their consummation and follow each other around from room to room.