The Finesse of a Feminist
One fine day I was out walking
When I met a sight rather shocking.
A woman, hair cropped short,
Dressed strictly as if preparing to enter court,
In a jacket pressed so sharp it seemed
Not to be made of material at all, and she teemed
With an air of powerful authority; I knew
This was a woman who expected the deference she was due.
There was no softness or frailty about her,
All controlled and brisk was her demeanor.
She was surrounded by commanding, finely dressed men
But next to her, they looked like lambs in a wolf’s den,
All wide eyes and nervous fidgeting
As she spoke in a voice so very cutting.
She gave a dismissive wave of an un-manicured hand, ridding
Herself of the men as they scurried off to do her bidding.
Intrigued, I went over to strike up a conversation,
Wanting to know who she was and what was her station
That she could command such obedience
And give orders with such potence
That no one dared disobey her.
When I said “hello,” she smiled at me, a fellow woman, with such candor
That had I not watched her minutes previous,
I would have never realized she could be callous.
And so we began to talk about this and that,
And she said that women aren’t meant to be a doormat
To men who think they are better based on gender.
Why should women, she said, be the ones to be tender
And caring, and stay at home, wasting away their potential
While the men get more credit, despite their bestial
Ways, going out and drinking, having affairs left and right.
And she continued, as if all men’s wrongdoings she could recite
Purely from heart. She believed a woman would better lead
Any organization, be it a company or country, and that men only impede
On the system, and so should stay out of the way.
After a while, the sun began to set and we called it a day.
The woman gripped my hand firmly as we said good-bye,
And as she walked away, I couldn’t help but wonder why,
If she wanted to prove that a man is no better than a woman,
She would act like the chauvinists she so despised more so than
Many men do. So then I found myself asking,
Does she want to prove that women are equal, or is she masking
Her femininity because she actually wants to be
A man, whose role she seems to envy?
When I met a sight rather shocking.
A woman, hair cropped short,
Dressed strictly as if preparing to enter court,
In a jacket pressed so sharp it seemed
Not to be made of material at all, and she teemed
With an air of powerful authority; I knew
This was a woman who expected the deference she was due.
There was no softness or frailty about her,
All controlled and brisk was her demeanor.
She was surrounded by commanding, finely dressed men
But next to her, they looked like lambs in a wolf’s den,
All wide eyes and nervous fidgeting
As she spoke in a voice so very cutting.
She gave a dismissive wave of an un-manicured hand, ridding
Herself of the men as they scurried off to do her bidding.
Intrigued, I went over to strike up a conversation,
Wanting to know who she was and what was her station
That she could command such obedience
And give orders with such potence
That no one dared disobey her.
When I said “hello,” she smiled at me, a fellow woman, with such candor
That had I not watched her minutes previous,
I would have never realized she could be callous.
And so we began to talk about this and that,
And she said that women aren’t meant to be a doormat
To men who think they are better based on gender.
Why should women, she said, be the ones to be tender
And caring, and stay at home, wasting away their potential
While the men get more credit, despite their bestial
Ways, going out and drinking, having affairs left and right.
And she continued, as if all men’s wrongdoings she could recite
Purely from heart. She believed a woman would better lead
Any organization, be it a company or country, and that men only impede
On the system, and so should stay out of the way.
After a while, the sun began to set and we called it a day.
The woman gripped my hand firmly as we said good-bye,
And as she walked away, I couldn’t help but wonder why,
If she wanted to prove that a man is no better than a woman,
She would act like the chauvinists she so despised more so than
Many men do. So then I found myself asking,
Does she want to prove that women are equal, or is she masking
Her femininity because she actually wants to be
A man, whose role she seems to envy?
