Note: My challenge was to write a poem on "women's problems" I couldn't do it - I had to write three. They are all here on one page, meant to be a cohesive presentation.
WOMEN'S PROBLEMS
I have heard of these women's problems stated
And who am I to think that they aren't there
But I'll say what they are is complicated
So I'll approach them with some extra care
I'll work by starting from the outside in
External woes would be enough to start
That is, work from the yang toward the yin
And I'll not put the horse before the cart.
By watching me to separate these things,
This way, you'll know that I'm a man no doubt
For women leave things intertwined, this clings.
Except for the laundry. That gets sorted out.
Who can say why? I certainly cannot.
Sorting things out seems like a woman's lot
THE PROBLEM IS
The problem is, when someone says you need their help
The problem is when someone thinks you don't.
The problem is when someone thinks you got dressed just for them
The problem is those few times when you really did.
The problem is the future of humanity is part of you
The problem is it might not come to pass that way.
The problem is when one has no control
The only who can won't give it up.
The problem is that no-one will reserve a seat at any table
For long enough for you to set things right.
The problem is that anyone with power
Has no need of their own to see your plight.
The problem is, the oldest stories that we have
Make you into one who's raped or rescued, but either way never innocent.
The problem is that no-one's innocent
But the ones who have a voice are better off.
I SEE
I see how women work: they take all things in cycles as
They go; the turning of the year, the days, the weeks, the month.
And while the men lose track of how long it has been, or when
The celebration ought to be, it is a woman who
Remembers, just exactly when the day will come again.
Give her a calendar and she'll make marks, but ask her when
And she will know, no reference, reminder are required
She knows how long and where the seasons go
She won't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
YOU ARE READING
The Request Book
PoetryThis book of poems contains my poems written to your requests (including, in some cases, requests that you did not make and that I imagined). Anyone may make a request for a poem on any subject and I will do my best. Please leave a comment and I w...
