"To be born woman is to know -- Although they do not talk of it at school -- That we must labour to be beautiful." -- William Butler Yeats, "Adam's Curse" Butterfly parts her long wings Skull and crossbones A shaved head sprayed gold On my back, twin Chinese dragons, on my thighs "Love" and "Mystery," black thorns encircle my ankles, one wrist the same, my lover's name around my left nipple, his initial on my jugular, so it's always exposed, so the world knows that I am his. A marked woman, this fan of a masculine art, her man's signature upon her body. Like the Egyptian princess, Lady Churchill, hiding her symbol of eternity, Janis Joplin, her heart upon her heavy chest: Out of the loop. Out of the running. Oh, ladies . . . Artfullete, Serpentia, Lady Viola, Princess Beatrice, Pictura, La Belle Irene dressed in flesh, both the celebrant and the talisman, I am listening to your skin: "Never Despair" floral necklaces slipping into cleavage, mermaids and dolphins, corporate logos, a hive of honeybees, band of fairies "Nothing without Labor" fallopian tubes, "men's ruin," a hundred penises, pinups, zippers up the backs of their legs, necks laced and tied with a pink ribbon "I Live and Die for Those I Love" Why take these vows of permanence and impermanence? Because we're all going to die. We might as well have our bodies be objects of beauty. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BACCALAUREATE by ARCHIBALD MACLEISH THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW (SEPTEMBER 25, 1857) by ROBERT TRAILL SPENCE LOWELL TO A FRIEND WHOSE WORK HAS COME TO NOTHING by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS THE CANDLE by GHALIB IBN RIBAH AL-HAJJAM MY FRIEND by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS AUTUMN by GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE THE MIRROR by THEODORE AUBANEL |