[533] The Gift

Guest poem sent in by Erin Cheatham <echeatham@>

Thinking she was the gift
they began to package it early.
They waxed its smile
they lowered its eyes
they tuned its ears to the telephone
they curled its hair
they straightened its teeth
they taught it to bury its wishbone
they poured honey down its throat
they made it say yes yes and yes
they sat on its thumbs.

That box has my name on it,
said the man.  It's for me.
And they were not surprised.
While they blew kisses and winked
he took it home.  He put it on a table
where his friends could examine it
saying dance saying faster.
He plunged its tunnels
he burned his name deeper.
Later he put it on a platform
under the lights
saying push saying harder
saying just what I wanted
you've given me a son.

	-- Carole Oles

I came across this poem in one of my college textbooks and was
immediately captivated.  I appreciate the poems, like this one, that must
be read over and over before they are understood on the surface alone,
and must be read and analyzed and pored over to be truly understood.

This is a beautiful, haunting, and chilling poem that looks at the
cliche of the pretty, submissive, and simple-minded girl and ably gives
that cliche depth.

Erin

From: Suresh Ramasubramanian <suresh@>

Martin Julian DeMello [Thu, Aug 31, 2000 at 08:00:15AM -0500]:

>  Thinking she was the gift
>  they began to package it early.

Funny how close this comes to real life  ... the image of a girl as a doll - a
mindless playtoy really struck me (yup - barbie dolls *are* stereotyped dumb
blondes but this is beside the point <g>)

>  they made it say yes yes and yes
>  they sat on its thumbs.

Again ... doll == girl.

>  That box has my name on it,
>  said the man.  It's for me.

Marriage = The guy acquires a new toy.

>  Later he put it on a platform
>  under the lights
>  saying push saying harder
>  saying just what I wanted
>  you've given me a son.

Phew ... pregnancy and childbirth reduced to *this* - drives home the point.

> be read over and over before they are understood on the surface alone,
> and must be read and analyzed and pored over to be truly understood. 

No, there are some complexities - and lots of beauty - but this doesn't seem
anywhere near the layer-within-layer mysticism of Blake.

> cliche of the pretty, submissive, and simple-minded girl and ably gives
> that cliche depth.

make that 'a girl _trained_ to be submissive and simple minded'.  You force
someone into a mold, it's not very easy to break that mold - and such
stereotypes tend to self-perpetuate.

-- 
Suresh Ramasubramanian + suresh@
Friday@ + http://kcircle.com
Weekend, where are you?