Dear Readers:
Here is another poem from the reader, Women's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings by Susan M. Shaw and Janet Lee, which I am using in the Introduction to Women's Studies course I am now teaching. Share your thoughts and comments. I would love hear from each and everyone of you.
Best,
Sylvia
Don’t Laugh,
It’s Serious, She Says
Ellie Mamber (1985)
At 55, I’m trying to meet men.
But though I look my best
(beautiful say some
of my friends) & am spirited
& very interesting (you can
tell this, can’t you?)
most men look at me with blank eyes,
no part of them flickering.
At parties they talk around me
as though I weren’t there,
choose less attractive
partners to dance or talk with.
Such a puzzle! I try
so hard not to let them know
that I am smarter, more
talented, classier & more
interesting than they. Nicer, too.
I cover this so well
with a friendly smile
& a cheerful word
that they could never tell
I want them to pursue me
so I can reject them.
Bug off, you bastards,
balding middle-aged men with paunches
hanging around women 20 years
younger, who the hell
do you think you are?
You’d better hurry up
and adore me or
it will be too late.
Excerpted from Shaw, Susan M, and Janet Lee. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print. 91.
Excerpted from Shaw, Susan M, and Janet Lee. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print. 91.
