An Opinion On The Question of Pornography

The main aspect of this piece is the symbolism or elaborate metaphor for pornography representing intellectual thinking. The poem goes on to pretty much explain the fact that with our minds we can think of anything, things far more worse than pictures of pornography. The author mentions that "They prefer the fruits from the forbidden tree of knowledge to the pink buttocks found in glossy magazines--all that ultimately simple-hearted smut. The books they relish have no pictures" (159). I believe that she further attempts to convey the idea that it can be far more rebellious or mischievious by simply thinking than looking at an obscene picture, which actually is just some perverse idea which has already been thought of and created. The metaphor holds out through the entire poem with the use of words such as "risque," "salacious," and "filthy fingering." In this poem I believe that the poet creatively reminds the reader of the ironic situation of society: while thinking has the ability to be far more vulgar, violent, deadly or obscene, it is the less-vicious imagery of pornography that has been deemed unacceptable.