Pants and Skirt Poem

 

Pants and Skirts You put men in pants and women in skirts.

Like the cold truth, it hurts

Cheeks stained with lipstick marks

Corsets are like armor, for our hearts.

The ticked-off boxes in our criteria sheets,

Forever trapped in this unpaid lease.

The inequality is like the gap between a women’s thighs

A prize, given to the women who cries

I would advise:

To steady this boat before it can capsize.

Till a wave pulls it back blind into the triumphant

Sea,

With bow-ties, lab coats, testosterone, and messes.

With low-sizes, love notes, estrogen, and dresses

We must stay true to ourselves

Whether we meet the objectives.

Ignore the comments

Because life is not a contest

So stop crying. Get up. Go out. Leap

Defeat the shadows that creep

We will rise, like crashing tides of war

With Our foot’s in the door.

Rationale: 

Submitted by: Boris Leorick

 

For our university class, we were assigned: Pants and Skirts, composed by, Maebel Sirimanotham. Miss. Sirimanotham’s poem, questions Gender roles in society, and how we must stay true to ourselves. Pants and Skirts is a dynamic, and powerful, realization of a poem, that opened my eyes. The first line, referencing to the restrictions that come with stereotypes, for both males and females. For many other classmates, especially female, this was a poem of inspiration. With the amazing use of figurative, sound, tone, devices, Miss. Sirimanotham touched the hearts of serval students. It was also nice to see the references to: ‘Ghost of a Chance’ by Adrienne Rich, ‘Praxis’ by Sharon Thesen, and ‘Mushrooms’ by Sylvia Plath. This was truly a great poem. I am very happy, to have read such a masterpiece.