Helen Of Troy Does Countertop Dancing Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFCGHIJCKLMNOPQ RAHSCTUQTVWXQYCZA2B2 C2D2VZZHACE2F2ACG2ZX H2XZI2ZJ2AHK2HZE2 L2M2QZL2L2N2L2L2O2L2 VCL2P2ZL2Q2R2

The world is full of womenA
who'd tell me I should be ashamed of myselfB
if they had the chance Quit dancingC
Get some self respectD
and a day jobE
Right And minimum wageF
and varicose veins just standingC
in one place for eight hoursG
behind a glass counterH
bundled up to the neck instead ofI
naked as a meat sandwichJ
Selling gloves or somethingC
Instead of what I do sellK
You have to have talentL
to peddle a thing so nebulousM
and without material formN
Exploited they'd say Yes any wayO
you cut it but I've a choiceP
of how and I'll take the moneyQ
-
I do give valueR
Like preachers I sell visionA
like perfume ads desireH
or its facsimile Like jokesS
or war it's all in the timingC
I sell men back their worse suspicionsT
that everything's for saleU
and piecemeal They gaze at me and seeQ
a chain saw murder just before it happensT
when thigh ass inkblot crevice tit and nippleV
are still connectedW
Such hatred leaps in themX
my beery worshippers That or a blearyQ
hopeless love Seeing the rows of headsY
and upturned eyes imploringC
but ready to snap at my anklesZ
I understand floods and earthquakes and the urgeA2
to step on ants I keep the beatB2
and dance for them becauseC2
they can't The music smells like foxesD2
crisp as heated metalV
searing the nostrilsZ
or humid as August hazy and languorousZ
as a looted city the day afterH
when all the rape's been doneA
already and the killingC
and the survivors wander aroundE2
looking for garbageF2
to eat and there's only a bleak exhaustionA
Speaking of which it's the smilingC
tires me out the mostG2
This and the pretenceZ
that I can't hear themX
And I can't because I'm after allH2
a foreigner to themX
The speech here is all warty gutturalsZ
obvious as a slab of hamI2
but I come from the province of the godsZ
where meanings are lilting and obliqueJ2
I don't let on to everyoneA
but lean close and I'll whisperH
My mother was raped by a holy swanK2
You believe that You can take me out to dinnerH
That's what we tell all the husbandsZ
There sure are a lot of dangerous birds aroundE2
-
Not that anyone hereL2
but you would understandM2
The rest of them would like to watch meQ
and feel nothing Reduce me to componentsZ
as in a clock factory or abattoirL2
Crush out the mysteryL2
Wall me up aliveN2
in my own bodyL2
They'd like to see through meL2
but nothing is more opaqueO2
than absolute transparencyL2
Look my feet don't hit the marbleV
Like breath or a balloon I'm risingC
I hover six inches in the airL2
in my blazing swan egg of lightP2
You think I'm not a goddessZ
Try meL2
This is a torch songQ2
Touch me and you'll burnR2

Margaret Atwood



Rate:
(1)



Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation


Write your comment about Helen Of Troy Does Countertop Dancing poem by Margaret Atwood


 

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 112 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Popular Poets