Trending »
Related »

BEHIND THE WAR ON WOMEN – Marge Piercy

on December 3 | in Poetry | by | with No Comments

Behind the war on women
Who does not control her own body?
A slave.  Aging white men addicted
to power cannot stand girls and women
choosing for themselves.  They dream
of bringing back those patriarchal days
when women in pearls like tiny teeth
rustling in taffeta brought platters
of Betty Crocker cakes, salads
of raisins, carrots and celery
in orange Jello to men who barely
needed to acknowledge their labor
because God willed it so. They want
the others crushed back into their
places, smiles glued on, costumes
intact, ready to serve as the punch-
lines of jokes shared over cigars.
Those were the days!  And nights
of subservience only available now
if they pay for it. Their anger swells
until solidified into punitive laws
that will strip women of choice,
of their uppity freedoms, of life itself
to bring back those glorious father
knows best chastity belt years.

 

art, photo, marge_piercy

Knopf brought out Piercy’s 18th poetry book THE HUNGER MOON: New & Selected Poems 1980-2010 in paperback. Other recent poetry includes THE CROOKED INHERITANCE; COLORS PASSING THOUGH US; WHAT ARE BIG GIRLS MADE OF. Piercy has published 17 novels, most recently SEX WARS; others include GONE TO SOLDIERS, THREE WOMEN, HE, SHE AND IT, and WOMAN ON THE EDGE OF TIME.  PM Press just republished DANCE THE EAGLE TO SLEEP, VIDA and BRAIDED LIVES with new introductions by Piercy.  Her first collected short stories THE COST OF LUNCH, ETC. will be out in April. Her memoir is SLEEPING WITH CATS, Harper Perennial. Her work has been translated into 19 languages and she’s given readings, workshops or lectures at well over 450 venues here and abroad. Her CD is LOUDER, WE CAN’T HEAR YOU YET..   www.margepiercy.com

Copyright 2013 Marge Piercy Box 1473, Wellfleet MA 02667 hagolem@c4.net

Pin It

Related Posts

« »

Recent Posts

News

THE SACRED GROVE –  [...]

[new_royalslider id="17"] Ana Flores is a sculptor and ecologist. Her work is informed by how pla

Safia Elhilo

2 Poems

Michele Robinson\'s Art [...]

Let Me Straddle Your Mind

X.J. Kennedy

The Crusader

Why did you leave bring m [...]

Yeah bring our electric shaver back, I bought it we shaved each others back it was important to me

Kwame Dawes

Kwame Dawes

BEFORE YOU – Kwame  [...]

1 Yes, we were country, lived in shotgun shacks, where the road loses its way to dirt and live

MENSTRUAL FLOWERS – [...]

[new_royalslider id="11"] Courtesy of the artist and Mizuma Art Gallery  

WHAT THE WOMB ISN’T [...]

         "Feminism is a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to lea

JUNOT DIAZ

Junot' Diaz and Edison, NJ

EDISON, NEW JERSEY – [...]

The first time we try to deliver the Gold Crown the lights are on in the house but no on

Rachel Eliza Griffiths [...]

Elegy & Poem

The March on Washington:  [...]

OTHER WORLD: A Conversati [...]

"We are all the other."

I OPEN A BOX

…and find inside a picture, of myself as a child, sitting on a small chair, wearing overalls an

Naive Paintings

Raphael Perez

CIRCLES OF THE MOON & [...]

To Alex, on turning two Some say the Ring of Brogar is the Circle of the Moon. There is n

In This Issue

March on Washington An Interview with Cheryl Evans

5 POINTZ: GRAFFITI MECCA  [...]

In a strange twist of what seemed like reverse vandalism, the Graffiti Mecca was painted over.

In This Issue

Forest Gander A Translation

In This Issue

Quassan Castro, poem Grandson to Grandmother

URBAN CANVAS: Wynwood Wal [...]

Wynwood Walls, of Miami has been called "a Museum of the Streets."

Pulaski Skyway

Low like the mean dream of Newark the sky must have seemed to its builders. Rickety now, unhingin

THE SPAN & OTHER POE [...]

At last, the extremes of his present methods seemed to offer the happiest avenues. The strengthe

Paul Latorre

5th Limb Poems

Joan Larkin

Poem, Knot

Gina Loring, Def Poetry [...]

Poem, Look This Way

In This Issue

Xue Du, Poem

AT THE END OF THE DREAM I [...]

A woman      in a black kimono      dyed black hair disappeared      behind a black curtai

Marge Piercy

Poem: Behind the War On Women

Naive Paintings

Raphael Perez

Marie Miazziotti -Gillam [...]

Maria Mizzotti-Gillan

Vicky Dantel

Short Story

In This Issue

Pilar Fraile Amador poem

Quassan Castro

Poem

Lugensky Durosier [...]

Lady Haiti

In This Issue

David Trinidad

In This Issue

Landzy Theodore

In This Issue

Angelo Nikolopoulos

Scroll to top