Sunday, December 14, 2008
Underwear
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
I didn’t get much sleep last night
thinking about underwear
Have you ever stopped to consider
underwear in the abstract
When you really dig into it
some shocking problems are raised
Underwear is something we all have to deal with
Everyone wears
some kind of underwear
Even Indians wear underwear
Even Cubans
wear underwear
The Pope wears underwear I hope
The Governor of Louisiana wears underwear
I saw him on TV
He must have had tight underwear
He squirmed a lot
Underwear can really get you in a bind
You have seen the underwear ads for men and women
so alike but so different
Women’s underwear holds things up
Men’s underwear holds things down
Underwear is one thing
men and women do have in common
Underwear is all we have between us
You have seen the three-color pictures
with crotches encircled
to show the areas of extra strength
with three-way stretch
promising full freedom of action
Don’t be deceived
It’s all based on the two-party system
which doesn’t allow much freedom of choice
the way things are set up
America in its Underwear
struggles thru the night
Underwear controls everything in the end
Take foundation garments for instance
They are really fascist forms
of underground government
making people believe
something but the truth
telling you what you can of can’t do
Did you ever try to get around a girdle
Perhaps Non-Violent Action
is the only answer
Did Gandhi wear a girdle?
Did Lady Macbeth wear a girdle?
Was that why Macbeth murdered sleep?
And the spot she was always rubbing -
Was it really her underwear?
Modern anglosaxon ladies
must have huge guilt complexes
always washing and washing and washing
Out damned spot
Underwear with spots very suspicious
Underwear with bulges very shocking
Underwear on clothesline a great flag of freedom
Someone has escaped his Underwear
May be naked somewhere
Help!
But don’t worry
Everybody’s still hung up in it
There won’t be no real revolution
And poetry still the underwear of the soul
And underwear still covering
a multitude of faults
in the geological sense -
strange sedimentary stones, inscrutable cracks!
If I were you I’d keep aside
an oversize pair of winter underwear
Do not go naked into that good night
And in the meantime
keep calm and warm and dry
No use stirring ourselves up prematurely
‘over Nothing’
Move forward with dignity
hand in vest
Don’t get emotional
And death shall have no dominion
There’s plenty of time my darling
Are we not still young and easy?
Don’t shout.
Comments:
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Oof! Tighty-whiteys!
Thank God treebu helped me liberate myself from those and into the undershorts culture; this confirms that I am no longer staying prepared to don the skates & pads and leap onto the ice in pursuit of the prized puck so much these days.
And as soon as T gets home from work (if I'm already home), I dash to help her out of that oppressive Helga bra-rig that has constricted her all day long.
Why do we dance to the tune of the Underwear Institute?
NEXT: Deodorants/Antirespirants
Thank God treebu helped me liberate myself from those and into the undershorts culture; this confirms that I am no longer staying prepared to don the skates & pads and leap onto the ice in pursuit of the prized puck so much these days.
And as soon as T gets home from work (if I'm already home), I dash to help her out of that oppressive Helga bra-rig that has constricted her all day long.
Why do we dance to the tune of the Underwear Institute?
NEXT: Deodorants/Antirespirants
Hey fun for treebu! I accidentally did that for Kevin when I bought him boxer/briefs...he still raves about them..had no idea they existed.. :)
xox
-Alice @ work still...
but hey look! you are a teacher (I think) - you can appreciate my glee in receiving this for my last assignment which I shall post here cuz why not - it's my blog.. :)
___
HI ALICE,
Your annotations were extremely interesting and Del read every word. These are the sorts of annotations that one could use later when writing a research paper. This is one of the purposes of the class because so many students just "Google it" and that is the end of the so called research. Then, they wonder why they have poor grades when transferring to a college or university.
Grade 40/40
Del and Kevin
xox
-Alice @ work still...
but hey look! you are a teacher (I think) - you can appreciate my glee in receiving this for my last assignment which I shall post here cuz why not - it's my blog.. :)
___
HI ALICE,
Your annotations were extremely interesting and Del read every word. These are the sorts of annotations that one could use later when writing a research paper. This is one of the purposes of the class because so many students just "Google it" and that is the end of the so called research. Then, they wonder why they have poor grades when transferring to a college or university.
Grade 40/40
Del and Kevin
bBoxers.
It was like the discovery of Not Wearing Any Underpants. Thank you God for showing me the path to T to liberate me from this nuisance! Best of both worlds!
And I, Treebu, hate underpants. I want to have nothing between me and my Calvin Kleins! I just dont care about CK . He never did anything for my career. And Brooke shields and I have Eileen Ford in common. Love ya miss Alice!
T
It was like the discovery of Not Wearing Any Underpants. Thank you God for showing me the path to T to liberate me from this nuisance! Best of both worlds!
And I, Treebu, hate underpants. I want to have nothing between me and my Calvin Kleins! I just dont care about CK . He never did anything for my career. And Brooke shields and I have Eileen Ford in common. Love ya miss Alice!
T
Yay Alice! But - of course! No surprises that you'd be a great annotator. You have an alert mind's ear and a comfy voice on the page.
I have the great good fortune to be a community college teacher of English - usually Comp, but now Lit.
When I teach in Vermont, where (thanks to Howard Dean's governorship) most of the kids coming in as freshmen (thirteenth graders) are confident in writing and talking, the step of annotation in the Big Paper - from where I am to UVM - can feel kind of new and daunting.. You should come out and help me teach the annotation part.
I have the great good fortune to be a community college teacher of English - usually Comp, but now Lit.
When I teach in Vermont, where (thanks to Howard Dean's governorship) most of the kids coming in as freshmen (thirteenth graders) are confident in writing and talking, the step of annotation in the Big Paper - from where I am to UVM - can feel kind of new and daunting.. You should come out and help me teach the annotation part.
Masquerade Party
If the world was invited
to a masquerade party,
Most people would arrive early
and a select few would be tardy.
There's so many different
costumes you would see.
Some would look 'kind of busy'
and others, maybe, 'carefree'.
Maybe some would
appear as 'cute as a bug',
watch them as they dance...
bet they could really 'cut a rug'.
So many of them
would be scary, I bet.
Don't be afraid though
because they haven't unmasked, yet!
At the end of this masquerade
we get to see who's really who...
This, my friend, is more scary
because you'll find they're not the people you thought you knew.
cecelia warner
Hiya Vernon... yes...anytime you wanna blog here feel free..I will find you because I get an email when someone posts here...we'll call it the fringe blog yeah? ;)
How's everything going with you?
-Alice
If the world was invited
to a masquerade party,
Most people would arrive early
and a select few would be tardy.
There's so many different
costumes you would see.
Some would look 'kind of busy'
and others, maybe, 'carefree'.
Maybe some would
appear as 'cute as a bug',
watch them as they dance...
bet they could really 'cut a rug'.
So many of them
would be scary, I bet.
Don't be afraid though
because they haven't unmasked, yet!
At the end of this masquerade
we get to see who's really who...
This, my friend, is more scary
because you'll find they're not the people you thought you knew.
cecelia warner
Hiya Vernon... yes...anytime you wanna blog here feel free..I will find you because I get an email when someone posts here...we'll call it the fringe blog yeah? ;)
How's everything going with you?
-Alice
Wow, is this some sort of a poetry about underwear, particularly that of bras, panties, shapewear, girdles and night gowns? :D
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