08-14-2011, 01:35 PM
I marvel at how dignified
women are in suffering.
A second layer of lipstick,
a martini to muster up
the social graces mother spent
her adulthood teaching you.
As men surrender to the mad
excesses of the soul's decline,
their lady friends straighten
their skirts, prepare the chicken,
beat the rugs, smile till
the muscles ache.
Even my stepmother kept
her hair blonde, her legs well-trimmed,
the blush of her cheeks a decoration
and not a drunk's deformity.
I marvel at how dignified
women are in suffering.
women are in suffering.
A second layer of lipstick,
a martini to muster up
the social graces mother spent
her adulthood teaching you.
As men surrender to the mad
excesses of the soul's decline,
their lady friends straighten
their skirts, prepare the chicken,
beat the rugs, smile till
the muscles ache.
Even my stepmother kept
her hair blonde, her legs well-trimmed,
the blush of her cheeks a decoration
and not a drunk's deformity.
I marvel at how dignified
women are in suffering.
"We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges." - Gene Wolfe