酷我-北美枫

[fanfan]

Reflections on International Women's Day, 2008

Poem Lyrics of Housewife by Anne Sexton

Some women marry houses.
It's another kind of skin; it has a heart,
a mouth, a liver and bowel movements.
The walls are permanent and pink.
See how she sits on her knees all day,
faithfully washing herself down.
Men enter by force, drawn back like Jonah
into their fleshy mothers.
A woman is her mother.
That's the main thing.


Anne Sexton (1928-1974)

Anne Sexton, well-known for her confessional poetry characterized by preoccupations with childhood guilt, mental illness, motherhood, and female sexuality, was a latecomer to the American literary scene, and underwent a rapid metamorphosis from suburban housewife to major literary figure in the early 1960s. Housewife is her own reflection on the prescribed role of women in a patriarchal society, drawing attention to the oppressive, circumscribed existence of women in middle-class American society. In her groundbreaking book entitled The Feminine Mystique, American feminist, activist and writer Betty Friedan describes the late fifties and early sixties for American women as a "comfortable concentration camp" -- physically luxurious, mentally oppressive and impoverished. Sexton’s Housewife is a personal testimonial of housewifing, which supports Friedan’s claim.


My Literary Response: Confessions of a Career Woman and Housewife

Waking up, helping my children and husband get ready for their day, breakfast, riding TTC to my workplace near downtown Toronto, three hours in the office, lunch and gossips with my co-workers, another five hours of work if lucky with no extra work, riding TTC home, dinner, doing domestic chores and fighting (oh, no; the correct word is negotiating) with children, joining my husband to watch TV, sleep (sorry! I forget one thing here: fulfilling the marital obligation if I still have energy or the desire), and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday according to the same rhythm (remove office work-related activities from the daily schedule on weekends and holidays).

The abovementioned schedule is faithfully followed most of the time and I set my mind to it, firmly. But what if one day the “why” arises in my mind after I’m tired of this damn routine?
_________________
Don't imitate me;
it's as boring
as the two halves of a melon.

[[FAFAFA]]

Reflections on International Women's Day, 2008

Poem Lyrics of Housewife by Anne Sexton

Some women marry houses.
It's another kind of skin; it has a heart,
a mouth, a liver and bowel movements.
The walls are permanent and pink.
See how she sits on her knees all day,
faithfully washing herself down.
Men enter by force, drawn back like Jonah
into their fleshy mothers.
A woman is her mother.
That's the main thing.


Anne Sexton (1928-1974)

Anne Sexton, well-known for her confessional poetry characterized by preoccupations with childhood guilt, mental illness, motherhood, and female sexuality, was a latecomer to the American literary scene, and underwent a rapid metamorphosis from suburban housewife to major literary figure in the early 1960s. Housewife is her own reflection on the prescribed role of women in a patriarchal society, drawing attention to the oppressive, circumscribed existence of women in middle-class American society. In her groundbreaking book entitled The Feminine Mystique, American feminist, activist and writer Betty Friedan describes the late fifties and early sixties for American women as a "comfortable concentration camp" -- physically luxurious, mentally oppressive and impoverished. Sexton’s Housewife is a personal testimonial of housewifing, which supports Friedan’s claim.


My Literary Response: Confessions of a Career Woman and Housewife

Waking up, helping my children and husband get ready for their day, breakfast, riding TTC to my workplace near downtown Toronto, three hours in the office, lunch and gossips with my co-workers, another five hours of work if lucky with no extra work, riding TTC home, dinner, doing domestic chores and fighting (oh, no; the correct word is negotiating) with children, joining my husband to watch TV, sleep (sorry! I forget one thing here: fulfilling the marital obligation if I still have energy or the desire), and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday according to the same rhythm (remove office work-related activities from the daily schedule on weekends and holidays).

The abovementioned schedule is faithfully followed most of the time and I set my mind to it, firmly. But what if one day the “why” arises in my mind after I’m tired of this damn routine?
_________________
Don't imitate me;
it's as boring
as the two halves of a melon.

[fanfan]

Written in the first-person point of view, Anne Sexton’s Her Kind, like Housewife, is a confessional poem, illustrating three personas: witch, housewife, and martyr, all personified in the theme of a woman being burned at the stake.

Her Kind

I have gone out, a possessed witch,
haunting the black air, braver at night;
dreaming evil, I have done my hitch
over the plain houses, light by light:
lonely thing, twelve-fingered, out of mind.
A woman like that is not a woman, quite.
I have been her kind.


I have found the warm caves in the woods,
filled them with skillets, carvings, shelves,
closets, silks, innumerable goods;
fixed the suppers for the worms and the elves:
whining, rearranging the disaligned.
A woman like that is misunderstood.
I have been her kind.


I have ridden in your cart, driver,
waved my nude arms at villages going by,
learning the last bright routes, survivor
where your flames still bite my thigh
and my ribs crack where your wheels wind.
A woman like that is not ashamed to die.
I have been her kind.
_________________
Don't imitate me;
it's as boring
as the two halves of a melon.

[[FFFFFF]]

Written in the first-person point of view, Anne Sexton’s Her Kind, like Housewife, is a confessional poem, illustrating three personas: witch, housewife, and martyr, all personified in the theme of a woman being burned at the stake.

Her Kind

I have gone out, a possessed witch,
haunting the black air, braver at night;
dreaming evil, I have done my hitch
over the plain houses, light by light:
lonely thing, twelve-fingered, out of mind.
A woman like that is not a woman, quite.
I have been her kind.


I have found the warm caves in the woods,
filled them with skillets, carvings, shelves,
closets, silks, innumerable goods;
fixed the suppers for the worms and the elves:
whining, rearranging the disaligned.
A woman like that is misunderstood.
I have been her kind.


I have ridden in your cart, driver,
waved my nude arms at villages going by,
learning the last bright routes, survivor
where your flames still bite my thigh
and my ribs crack where your wheels wind.
A woman like that is not ashamed to die.
I have been her kind.
_________________
Don't imitate me;
it's as boring
as the two halves of a melon.

[星子]

thanks for sharing

Freedom is the base need for everyone.

Some choose to be housewife, some to pursue career. They are all reasonable.
_________________

[[ANNA]]

thanks for sharing

Freedom is the base need for everyone.

Some choose to be housewife, some to pursue career. They are all reasonable.
_________________

[dundas]

[[dundas]]

[christine]

[[christine]]

[ericcoliu]

It seems to me that this poem is written for The Desperate Housewives fans.

[[ericcoliu]]

It seems to me that this poem is written for The Desperate Housewives fans.

[星子]

True. Many people think it is easy to be house wife. But the ones who are house wife struggle to be strong since it is too easy to lose dignity.
_________________

[[ANNA]]

True. Many people think it is easy to be house wife. But the ones who are house wife struggle to be strong since it is too easy to lose dignity.
_________________

[dundas]

[[dundas]]

[redshoe]

[[redshoe]]

[fanfan]

[[FFFFFF]]

[fanfan]

Read Anne Sexton’s literary bio and poems at PoetryFoundation.org.

Watch rare film clips of Anne Sexton reciting some poetry, including Her Kind, and excerpts from home movies.
_________________
Don't imitate me;
it's as boring
as the two halves of a melon.

[[FAFAFA]]

Read Anne Sexton’s literary bio and poems at PoetryFoundation.org.

Watch rare film clips of Anne Sexton reciting some poetry, including Her Kind, and excerpts from home movies.
_________________
Don't imitate me;
it's as boring
as the two halves of a melon.

[christine]

Thank you so much for re-posting two of her poems, which speak volume to me.

As the Editor of PoetryFundation suggests, "much of Anne Sexton's poetry is autobiographical and concentrates on her deeply personal feelings, especially anguish. In particular, many of her poems record her battles with mental illness."

[[christine]]

Thank you so much for re-posting two of her poems, which speak volume to me.

As the Editor of PoetryFundation suggests, "much of Anne Sexton's poetry is autobiographical and concentrates on her deeply personal feelings, especially anguish. In particular, many of her poems record her battles with mental illness."