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The House-Wives

We all men and women,
Professionals,
Living in the world of business,
Are the marketers:
Purchasers or sellers,
Merchandise our skills, or labour,
Or merchandise the items of body,
Honour, respect and nobility.
Some sell blood,
Some kids and kidneys,
Against a few coins of silver or gold,
Or notes of paper;
And no one offers anything free of cost,
Except the house-wives,
Who toil with loyalty and fidelity,
Surrendering their entire entities,
Against the wages of words,
Spoken though in pretentious love
By the tongues dipped in hypocrisy
And though only once in life.

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Comments


  • Lad
    March 13, 2008

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    Greetings, Mr. Shanazar. I just happened to see your name online now, so I thought I'd pay a visit. I'm glad I did.

    This lovely praise of the "loyalty and fidelity" of housewives is, for me, much more than only a surface tribute to them. The poem moves its way thoughtfully from the many different (and usually masculine, though feminine as well lately) world of money and buying and selling - even those which are horribly illegal and cruel, such as "Some sell blood / Some kids and kidneys..." - both are very telling and strong lines depicting the dark side of business.

    And then, the women who "surrender their entire entities, / against the wages of words..." - for me, this is a quite original image of housewives who toil out of love but receive, as pay, only words, yet they still toil. And the words they receive are so often said "only once", perhaps at the wedding ceremony so long ago.

    Technically, I like the poem's intermittent rhymes, natural and unforced, and the delicate beats of the lines' rhythms. All in all, a very probing write, and a thoughtful read for me - the poem's first half about one type of "business", and the other about a completely other type of "busy-ness", done out of love. Thanks for posting this finely wrought poem!

    Lad

  • Done
    March 12, 2008

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    This is great.

    It is my blessing to possess one such unsung wonder-worker in my life. She tirelessly tends to four children and feeds us all and keeps the house. I try to help with a dish or two here and there but my contribution is woefully inadequate. I'm trying to do better with that as I must agree that I like my day to end at some point and she should have the same. But I'm gonna have to stop manning the keyboard battlements so often. I think maybe it's about time for that.

    This is a good reminder for husbands everywhere to help out more. Well done.

    al