Intimacy

In her stories "Polepole" and "Green Glass," the author explores the complex nature of romantic intimacy through descriptive attention to the human face and body. In "Polepole," the main character, Daisy, is living in Kenya. She knows little about the country's customs, and does not speak the language. This sense of displacement affords her a seeming escape from her entrapping life in the States. She likes the feeling that she can "be whisked away in the dark," feeling "the outline of herself [beginning] to dissolve" (5). However, Daisy's supposed desires to disappear are in conflict with her obsessive habit of observing her lover's facial expressions and physical mannerisms. Just as she is trying to break herself away from him, she makes "the mistake of looking into his face" (16). His expression of concern makes her feel close to him once more, a feeling she is attempting to betray...