Poetry Saturday - September 1, 2012

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.