womanly poems for womanly women

[WickedEve]

written by men, inspired by women:


She Walks In Beauty

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade more, one ray less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

Lord Byron (1788-1824)


KASHMIRI SONG
Laurence Hope (1865-1904)

Pale hands I loved beside the Shalimar,
Where are you now? Who lies beneath your spell?
Whom do you lead on rapture's roadway far,
Before you agonise them in farewell?

Oh, pale dispensers of my Joys and Pains,
Holding the doors of Heaven and Hell,
How the hot blood rushed wildly through the veins,
Beneath your touch, until you waved farewell.

Pale hands, pink tipped, like Lotus buds that float
On those cool waters where we used to dwell,
I would have rather felt you round my throat,
Crushing out life, than waving me farewell.


The Longness Of Liz
by smithpeter ©

Liz is a long woman.
Blackest black short haired.
She wears long dresses,
Slit down her left leg.
Always the left side.
Her tattooed right outer thigh,
Seldom sees the light of day,
Or gaze of suitors.
There, permanently marked,
A vine of green grape leaves,
An intertwined slender,
Olive colored snake,
Weaving its way upward around,
And around from ankle to hip.

She dresses simply.
Always long black,
Calf length thin strapped dresses.
Loose fitting low cut rear and front.
Her beasts are shaped,
For champagne glasses.
She wears no ornament.
Neither jewelry or makeup.

Beside pretentious ladies in restaurants,
Adorned with multicolored beads,
Sparkling stone studded rings,
And cinched waists,
Liz appears naked.
Glowing.

 

[bogusbrig]

i think he's good.

i also think she dwarfs him.

but she dwarfs just about everyone, it seems to me.

and i bet her navel was delicious.

She's been hyped beyond hype and promoted beyond recognition but that is the good fortune of those that die young and used as a banner for a cause ie. feminism.

Her poetry is good but dwarfed by her myth, sometimes I think people read her myth when they read her poetry. Hughes has got a huge amount of work to pick apart and not a few meagre collections, that's the problem of having a reasonably long life. His best work is far better than Plaths.

 

[PatCarrington]

She's been hyped beyond hype and promoted beyond recognition but that is the good fortune of those that die young and used as a banner for a cause ie. feminism.

Her poetry is good but dwarfed by her myth, sometimes I think people read her myth when they read her poetry. Hughes has got a huge amount of work to pick apart and not a few meagre collections, that's the problem of having a reasonably long life. His best work is far better than Plaths.

his work is better than hers only in quantity.

and sometimes, hype is deserved. in her case, for instance.

i find a depth of understanding of the human condition in her words, and a constant and continuous one, that i have never seen in his.

but this is opinion after all, and i'm sure we can agree to disagree.

 

[annaswirls]

I'm a big Joni Mitchell fan, though that's not one of my favorites.
.

yeah it was just the girliest thing I could think of in a pinch

 

[annaswirls]

yeah it was just the girliest thing I could think of in a pinch

I am always so behind in these threads damn it

 

[Guest]

I couldn't help but notice how many of these poems are about bitching at men or women bleating on about their own suffering. At least the manly poems bleat on about romanticism or futility, the world beyond themselves.

*BB hides behind his desk as he waits to duck the first frying pan to be thrown at him by a frustrated housewife who is sick of being taken for granted.*

Is this a challenge?



(shit stirrer.)

<<< to show I'm joking.

 

[WickedEve]

Is this a challenge?



(shit stirrer.)

<<< to show I'm joking.

You're too sweet. I thought his comment was asinine.


<<< too show I'm not being a bitch. lol

 

[PatCarrington]

You're too sweet. I thought his comment was asinine.


<<< too show I'm not being a bitch. lol

bitch.

 

[WickedEve]

bitch.

So much power in a rose.
If I said you were a butt-scratching imbecile (no rose) you'd be insulted.
But if I do this "You are a butt-scratching imbecile, Pat. " then you think I'm hitting on you--you butt-scratching imbecile.

 

[Guest]

You're too sweet. I thought his comment was asinine.


<<< too show I'm not being a bitch. lol

I don't think we've even started bitching and bleating.


*rolls up trousers*


P.S,

 

[WickedEve]

I don't think we've even started bitching and bleating.


*rolls up trousers*


P.S,

roll up sleeves and trousers and pull down panties and sheets. now we're ready for loving and fighting and whatever else comes our way. we are bitches.

 

[bogusbrig]

You're too sweet. I thought his comment was asinine.


<<< too show I'm not being a bitch. lol

Someone has to stir the pot or it stagnates and my comment was merely an observation and a pretty accurate one at that.

 

[Guest]

Someone has to stir the pot or it stagnates and my comment was merely an observation and a pretty accurate one at that.

Is this a challenge?



(shit stirrer.)

<<< to show I'm joking.

Put down the spoon, I need an answer.

 

[bogusbrig]

Put down the spoon, I need an answer.

Yes. Let's see see how accurate you can throw and what you can come up with.

 

[twelveoone]

his work is better than hers only in quantity.

and sometimes, hype is deserved. in her case, for instance.

i find a depth of understanding of the human condition in her words, and a constant and continuous one, that i have never seen in his.

but this is opinion after all, and i'm sure we can agree to disagree.

Pat, I'm not here to argue. I really wish to understand, maybe I've read the wrong things. I've found her Daddy is a Nazi man, more pathology than poetry, much more disturbing than Sharon Old's bitch, (which sucked), Ginsberg's Kaddish which was disturbing but good, and bukowski's portrait of his father which I found funny.

 

[twelveoone]

written by men, inspired by women:


She Walks In Beauty

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade more, one ray less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

Lord Byron (1788-1824)

That's funny Eve, one of my fav's, presently working on rip of this. Byron via Dante, vs Sharon Olds.
so much for beauty like the night.

 

[WickedEve]

That's funny Eve, one of my fav's, presently working on rip of this. Byron via Dante, vs Sharon Olds.
so much for beauty like the night.

whatever

 

[Angeline]

Yes. Let's see see how accurate you can throw and what you can come up with.

You be nice to Tess. She's a clever one and can come up with plenty of brilliant and interesting suprises.

And Eve, I've always loved She Walks in Beauty--so much so that it is one of the few poems I've memorized. It makes me sigh. I think that's a fine reason to like a poem.

 

[WickedEve]

You be nice to Tess. She's a clever one and can come up with plenty of brilliant and interesting suprises.

And Eve, I've always loved She Walks in Beauty--so much so that it is one of the few poems I've memorized. It makes me sigh. I think that's a fine reason to like a poem.

I just finished emailing someone about that poem. That poem and several others have been among my favorites since childhood. I have a collection of poems in a poetry book from the 1920s. So, that poem and Kashmiri Song and others have been part of me for many years.

 

[Angeline]

I just finished emailing someone about that poem. That poem and several others have been among my favorites since childhood. I have a collection of poems in a poetry book from the 1920s. So, that poem and Kashmiri Song and others have been part of me for many years.

I studied it in college in a Victorian Lit class--well that started with the Romantic poets (none of whom I was especially wild for). I really disliked Byron, too, cause he seemed like such a vain snot in so many of his poems (see Bogusbrig--I have totally silly reasons for disliking poets), but that poem I liked. I bet he didn't mean it though, probably made it up to some wench in a pub hoping he'd get lucky.

 

[bogusbrig]

I studied it in college in a Victorian Lit class--well that started with the Romantic poets (none of whom I was especially wild for). I really disliked Byron, too, cause he seemed like such a vain snot in so many of his poems (see Bogusbrig--I have totally silly reasons for disliking poets),

The mere vanity of the man demands admiration though.

but that poem I liked. I bet he didn't mean it though, probably made it up to some wench in a pub hoping he'd get lucky.

Hmm He probably did but who can blame him and isn't this what men do? However, didn't he get bored of seduction?

If I thought there was the remotest possibility of seducing you with a poem, I would.

I might!

 

[Angeline]

The mere vanity of the man demands admiration though.



but that poem I liked. I bet he didn't mean it though, probably made it up to some wench in a pub hoping he'd get lucky.

Hmm He probably did but who can blame him and isn't this what men do? However, didn't he get bored of seduction?

If I thought there was the remotest possibility of seducing you with a poem, I would.

I might! [/QUOTE]

I suppose you're right, but I wouldn't have gone home with him--burping all that hock and soda water, ugh.

And I am seduced by poems all the time. It's how I ended up in my present relationship, lol. It would never have worked for us though. I'd read Yeats and get all misty-eyed and you'd puke.

I do like you though. You're so delightfully perverse.

 

[WickedEve]

I studied it in college in a Victorian Lit class--well that started with the Romantic poets (none of whom I was especially wild for). I really disliked Byron, too, cause he seemed like such a vain snot in so many of his poems (see Bogusbrig--I have totally silly reasons for disliking poets), but that poem I liked. I bet he didn't mean it though, probably made it up to some wench in a pub hoping he'd get lucky.

I heard it was inspired by his cousin. Hmm...

 

[Angeline]

I heard it was inspired by his cousin. Hmm...

or even Eek

 

[bogusbrig]

And I am seduced by poems all the time. It's how I ended up in my present relationship, lol. It would never have worked for us though. I'd read Yeats and get all misty-eyed and you'd puke.

I do like you though. You're so delightfully perverse.

I could be you bit of rough on the side. The dark secret you don't want to show in public.

I've no shame.