Intimacy By Groarke's

in her well-wrought poems, here extending to the visual and typographical aspects of the book's design” (Johnston 99). That kind of close detail allows for the aspects of romantic intimacy to be displayed in a natural and conservative way. As seen in Johnston’s review of her attention to detail, “Intimacy” uses the description of the “peacock feather,” giving the image of the destroyed feather. In her poem, Intimacy, she wrote, “How did the peacock feather come to be/ found in the yard, trampled, half-broken,/ its wild eye tamed with dirt?”(Intimacy p. 32). The peacock feather could be seen as their relationship that once was as beautiful and as precious as a peacock feather and not is destroyed. While she does not explicit describe intimacy, …show more content…
In “X,” Groarke describes intimacy, “from which silence might slip/like the strap of a dress/off a shoulder” (“X”14). Even in her more explicit descriptions she still does not directly discuss intimacy. She uses the directness of “shoulder strap” as a simile, not even directly using that description in discussing the intimacy. In having the description of the strap coming off her shoulder, Groarke uses the structure of their relationship, echoed in the silence mentioned in that line, to show the breaking of their relationship in their romance. By creating such imagery, she shows the structures of relationships in comparing their falling silence to an intimate act such as the strap of her dress coming off of her shoulder. Even in “X,” while the relationship in that the speaker does not leave off with the chance of rebuilding, the speaker does look back at their relationship as lovers, “as if here and now/ were equal lines/ fused the way lovers fused/ for as long as it takes/ to pass through the eye of love” (“X” 14). The two in this poem were together and united at a point in time, equal in their togetherness. They once held a great love for one another. In these two Groarke’s poems, she reveals the stages of relationships in their romance and the openness of their intimacy, which not only normalizes the romantic intimacy in her …show more content…
In his poetry, Gillis uses humor and imagery to show the physical and sexual sides of relationships in their romantic intimate moments. Groarke’s focus on details in her imagery to portray the relationship in a broken way by using the peacock feather helped draw into the relationship the speaker and his or her partner once had together. Gillis uses lyrical poetic language and current slang in his description of intimacy that gives the everyday feel of the intimacy he is sharing through his poetry. Groarke’s attention to structure of relationships in describing how the speaker of the poem react to the falling of the structure in his or her relationship. Gillis uses the openness of the relationship of the speaker of the poem, “Among the Barley” to display the romance they have with one another. In having such detail in her poetry, she gives a more conservative outlook to her portrayal of intimacy in her poetry, but the intimacy is still there, all the same. Gillis does show the flaws in romantic, intimate relationships between people, taking on the different sides of relationships. Groarke’s descriptions show that although there are faults in relationships, she normalizes working through the problems of relationships and the acceptance of open romantic intimacy. Both Gillis and Groarke display