Parenthetical Aside

The world is different between men
(You, woman, are not allowed in,
Just as if there were a building
Made of ornate bricks, and the door
Were locked,
And you were to scrape against the wood
With your nails, because the length of those nails,
Their sharpness for scraping,
Is what makes you
Woman).

The floor is a marble horizon,
Like a slat of sunlight,
A watery sluice that feeds
The tables growing full with fruit;
The smell of our sweat,
On the other hand,
Is sweet.

(Woman, you will not know
How we dance like ravens,
And our love is fire)

For she is a thing
In parentheses.