Sharon Olds, "Topography"

Topography

After we flew across the country we
got into bed, laid our bodies
delicately together, like maps laid
face to face, East to West, my
San Francisco against your New York, your
Fire Island against my Sonoma, my
New Orleans deep in your Texas, your Idaho
bright on my Great Lakes, my Kansas
burning against your Kansas your Kansas
burning against my Kansas, your Eastern
Standard Time pressing into my
Pacific Time, my Mountain Time
beating against your Central Time, your
sun rising swiftly from the right my
sun rising swiftly from the left your
moon rising slowly from the left my
moon rising slowly from the right until
all four bodies of the sky
burn above us, sealing us together,
all our cities twin cities,
all our states united, one
nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

                                --Sharon Olds

In the Sharon Olds poem “Topography,” the bodies of two lovers become confused in an inter-mingled geography after a moment of intimacy.  This implied connection between the body and land, a commingling of east and west, sun and moon, becomes a metaphor suggesting unity and the exuberant liberation accompanying the joining of opposites.  The poem begins quietly, with the speaker recounting how they “laid our bodies/ delicately together, like maps laid/ face to face, east to west.”  An energy quickly develops as east and west collapse: “my New Orleans deep in your Texas, your Idaho/ bright on my Great Lakes.”  While clearly sexual, there is a tenderness here, too—great distances are being crossed to bring these places together.