Gerald Stern

Lunchtime they argued over the plots and sometimes
one of them read a passage with a heavy, say,
Polish accent and for a minute they were like
the men, although they never pounded the table,
and later the fumes either made their eyes water
or made them dream, though their fingers were independent
and clever; and there was a large white sink in which
they scrubbed their yellow hands nor did they have
too far to go nor did they work too long there,
and those who married, as like as not married upstairs
or in the yard, if it was warm, among the
flowers they had no names for they gathered and wore
like feathers in their curly uncut hair.