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.
Wow, Maebel – well done! very creative video… and the poem with its devices is great! And I love “Boris’ rationale”