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Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained | |||
John Wieners’ “The Murder of Cheap Waitresses” is a kaleidoscopic and provocative meditation on class, violence, and the erasure of marginalized lives. Using fragmented imagery and historical references, Wieners creates a poem that critiques societal indifference to the suffering of the working class, particularly women. His language, simultaneously opaque and vivid, conveys a world where systemic neglect and casual cruelty intersect, leaving behind a haunting legacy of unacknowledged loss. The poem opens with the indictment of Ellen Needham, a figure whose specific role is ambiguous but who seems emblematic of a system complicit in the exploitation and demise of “cheap waitresses.” This phrase itself is jarring, reducing these women to their economic function and social value, while the term “murder” adds a layer of both literal and metaphorical violence. Wieners pairs this with a critique of figures like Alan Myronwitz, whose directive to “Kill them off” underscores the brutal disregard for the lives of the poor. The mention of an unproduced revue titled “Shoot the President” introduces a chaotic sense of irony and futility, as creative expression struggles to address or rectify systemic injustices. The reference to Uncle Eddie’s “Oh, Oh” and the question “was he Earl Warren then?” situates the poem in a historical context of judicial and societal failures. Earl Warren, as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, is often associated with progressive rulings, but Wieners’ invocation complicates this narrative, suggesting unresolved tensions between justice and systemic oppression. The disjointed flow mirrors the fragmented experiences of the poem’s subjects—cheap waitresses—whose stories are seldom linear or neatly resolved. The imagery of “The Maid of Mistd Orleans vacationd off The Y in Room 517” blends surrealism with historical allusion, potentially referencing Joan of Arc (the "Maid of Orleans"), a figure of resistance and martyrdom. By juxtaposing her with the mundane reality of a YWCA room and “Charlie at the wheel” under “orange lights,” Wieners collapses the mythic and the everyday, underscoring the dissonance between ideals of heroism and the unremarkable suffering of the present. Wieners then shifts to a series of questions, asking whether initials replace proper names or whether a judge can resurrect codes. These inquiries highlight the erasure and depersonalization inherent in systemic violence. Figures like Anna, Elizabeth Short (famously known as the Black Dahlia), and Cyril appear like ghosts of unresolved tragedies, their identities fractured and their stories subsumed by sensationalism or neglect. The poem suggests a continuum of dispossession, where individuals are reduced to symbols or obscured by the machinery of power. The line “The death of hard-working women allowing some a cup of coffee surprises us” is especially poignant, exposing the irony of a society that takes for granted the labor and sacrifice of the working class while remaining oblivious to their exploitation. The mention of their deaths passing unnoticed evokes a chilling sense of collective apathy, a theme reinforced by references to geographic locations like “the fields of Brewster” and “Willimantic embankments.” These sites, perhaps rural or industrial, are marked by the invisible toil and unmarked graves of the marginalized. Wieners’ invocation of “no more Treason in the telephoneless rooms” and “the Eighth Street billboard display” further emphasizes the isolation and dispossession of the poem’s subjects. The absence of telephones suggests a lack of connection or voice, while the billboard represents a surface-level projection of desires or ideals that contrast sharply with the grim realities beneath. In “The Murder of Cheap Waitresses,” Wieners critiques a society that normalizes and perpetuates the devaluation of human lives, particularly those of women in working-class roles. His fragmented narrative style reflects the disjointed and often silenced histories of his subjects, while his allusions to historical and cultural figures anchor the poem in a broader context of systemic violence and neglect. Wieners challenges readers to confront the uncomfortable realities of erasure and indifference, urging us to acknowledge the lives and labor that underpin the structures of society. Through its haunting imagery and piercing critique, the poem becomes both a lament and a call to remember those who are too often forgotten.
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