I can understand why women
Who are beautiful read. It’s a slow
And dignified process, reading.
The mistakes detailed on page twenty five
May, or may not, come back to haunt the heroine
On page two hundred and fifty five.
The perfume inside the pages lingers.
With each turn of the page, a little sigh.
If you can write what does not offend
Women, as the individual, or the group—
If you please both the singular and the mass, your writing
Succeeds. It doesn’t need to be exciting;
The experience is more than the sum of its parts:
Being in the world, apart from the world;
The waiting for the sad and intricate story
To soothe the sad and intricate hearts.