It just would never do for me to not include these two poems in honor of National Poetry Month.
The Red Dress
by Dorothy Parker
I always saw, I always said
If I were grown and free,
I'd have a gown of reddest red
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggG_kEcdPWYjRFgUxaa9WNnEugGFvarodKpQyj5cL9Yoax3ZlhF1qF6J6vFo5wdVP8nDLaYODRPhmDjUBdTf5bxqQrOF0UX7MzQwOGm7yLDPB7_mVlkRQivk2jarqP9snnSgbLQwJK2dA/s640/reddress3.jpg)
As fine as you could see,
To wear out walking, sleek and slow,
Upon a Summer day,
And there'd be one to see me so
And flip the world away.
And he would be a gallant one,
With stars behind his eyes,
And hair like metal in the sun,
And lips too warm for lies.
I always saw us, gay and good,
High honored in the town.
Now I am grown to womanhood....
I have the silly gown.
AND
The Red Dress (or What do Women Want)
by Kim Addonizio
I want a red dress.
I want it flimsy and cheap,
I want it too tight, I want to wear it
until someone tears it off me.
I want it sleeveless and backless,
this dress, so no one has to guess
what's underneath. I want to walk down
the street past Thrifty's and the hardware store
with all those keys glittering in the window,
past Mr. and Mrs. Wong selling day-old
donuts in their café, past the Guerra brothers
slinging pigs from the truck and onto the dolly,
hoisting the slick snouts over their shoulders.
I want to walk like I'm the only
woman on earth and I can have my pick.
I want that red dress bad.
I want it to confirm
your worst fears about me,
to show you how little I care about you
or anything except what
I want. When I find it, I'll pull that garment
from its hanger like I'm choosing a body
to carry me into this world, through
the birth-cries and the love-cries too,
and I'll wear it like bones, like skin,
it'll be the goddamned
dress they bury me in.
To wear out walking, sleek and slow,
Upon a Summer day,
And there'd be one to see me so
And flip the world away.
And he would be a gallant one,
With stars behind his eyes,
And hair like metal in the sun,
And lips too warm for lies.
I always saw us, gay and good,
High honored in the town.
Now I am grown to womanhood....
I have the silly gown.
AND
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXzavw8DSwdXw5tbuPYquDgIPFvF-NEB6MXRpkXxgQG5YsjTJOU4WvLFSuc0lw0jf3YZRo6FpitqAyAr9FvjE6r6IWvPcTH0vThrjwKbZmrn-QwvAC9kvPKvwsk5XUOL2cikU3mrVhHC0/s320/reddress6.jpg)
by Kim Addonizio
I want a red dress.
I want it flimsy and cheap,
I want it too tight, I want to wear it
until someone tears it off me.
I want it sleeveless and backless,
this dress, so no one has to guess
what's underneath. I want to walk down
the street past Thrifty's and the hardware store
with all those keys glittering in the window,
past Mr. and Mrs. Wong selling day-old
donuts in their café, past the Guerra brothers
slinging pigs from the truck and onto the dolly,
hoisting the slick snouts over their shoulders.
I want to walk like I'm the only
woman on earth and I can have my pick.
I want that red dress bad.
I want it to confirm
your worst fears about me,
to show you how little I care about you
or anything except what
I want. When I find it, I'll pull that garment
from its hanger like I'm choosing a body
to carry me into this world, through
the birth-cries and the love-cries too,
and I'll wear it like bones, like skin,
it'll be the goddamned
dress they bury me in.
No comments:
Post a Comment