Friday 1 August 2008

Poem, affirmation

I came across this poem while i was geeking out on poets.org, a really cool site which has recordings of poets reading their poems, including Ginsberg reading Howl and Eliot reading the first poem he ever got published.
I loved this poem when i read it, but the poet reading it changed the meaning and i liked it less, so instead of posting the link and exposing you to that, i'm just copying the poem, so you can make up your own mind about how it should be read. Enjoy.

What Women Want


I want a red dress.
I want it flimsy and cheap,
I want it too tight, I want to wear it
until someone tears it off me.
I want it sleeveless and backless,
this dress, so no one has to guess
what's underneath. I want to walk down
the street past Thrifty's and the hardware store
with all those keys glittering in the window,
past Mr. and Mrs. Wong selling day-old
donuts in their café, past the Guerra brothers
slinging pigs from the truck and onto the dolly,
hoisting the slick snouts over their shoulders.
I want to walk like I'm the only
woman on earth and I can have my pick.
I want that red dress bad.
I want it to confirm
your worst fears about me,
to show you how little I care about you
or anything except what
I want. When I find it, I'll pull that garment
from its hanger like I'm choosing a body
to carry me into this world, through
the birth-cries and the love-cries too,
and I'll wear it like bones, like skin,
it'll be the goddamned
dress they bury me in.


Kim Addonizio

I definately know the feeling she's talking about. What do you think?

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