Poem: On Reading "Not a Muse," an Anthology of Women's Poetry

A rough draft.


On Reading Not A Muse, an Anthology of Women’s Poetry

I am not a woman,
have never made love to a woman
and will probably never make love to a woman
since I prefer a man’s sweet nerve.

Reading this anthology, subtitled
the inner lives of women,
I wonder what a thing a woman is.

I think she is my sister
crying at the other end of the line, in a different continent,
who not so secretly worshipped and resented me
but now asks in wild abandonment,
“Why can’t you keep it in?”

Comments

Sandy Longhorn said…
Lovely draft. I esp. like "a man's sweet nerve" and the distance both physical and emotional btwn the speaker and the sister. Lots of energy there. Good luck with it.
Jee Leong said…
Thanks for the comment, Sandy.
A.H. said…
"probably",
not certainly...
I am worried.

:-)
Larry said…
I like this a lot.
The term "wild abandonment" is not working for me: its regular usage is "wild abandon", and in any case I don't think this captures the appropriate emotion, which I imagine should be dismay or dejection.

Best,
Larry
Jee Leong said…
Eshu,
You know I like to be prepared for any eventuality.

Thanks, Larry, for coming in on this one. It bears more thinking.

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