I don’t want to look at you
I don’t want to look at you, Miss January,
With your eyelashes and your half-open mouth
And your knowing eyes
And your smooth hard derriere
And your strategically positioned arm;
I don’t want to look at you, Miss January.
I realise, yes, I didn’t have this problem with Miss December.
I smiled, kept a copy of her page
For my files, you understand.
I never saw Miss December naked in my aunt’s house
Lying on a mat printed with teddies and happy ducks,
Crying and red and surrounded with
Wetwipes and disposables and
The wrong sort of powder, the wrong sort of skin cream.
Miss December was never a baby.
So if it’s a bit weird for me, I hope you understand,
And let me know the next time you’re in a calendar.
In the meantime, I’ll be meeting Miss February early.
I hope you understand.
Recently, I found out one of my cousins is now a glamour model.
More power to her. I know I am supposed to disapprove, but, well. Feminism is like virtue: not everyone can afford it, which is a thing you only really understand if you’ve been poor, or if you spent enough time with poor people. In a straight contest between minimum wage in a dead-end district in a dead-end city or going to London and Paris and possibly making money for having your photo taken, well. I can’t fault her or judge her.
But let’s face it, no matter how right-on a (straight) man is, he’s lying if he hasn’t seen a glamour shoot at least once and gone inwardly, unconsciously, “I’d completely do her.” Or thoughts to that effect. But what if you knew her as a toddler? It’s the kind of experience that highlights just how strange a social construct the whole glamour model thing actually is.
May 31st, 2009 at 7:31 pm
That’s a really strong way of putting it. I completely agree with the viewpoint, but the poem is a very effective way of conveying the message. I’m not usually into poetry, but this is very communicative.
Kudos.
June 4th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Totally agree with you. The best feminisms are the ones that know that reconize that sexism does not exist in a vacuum. Oppression is not singular. We always have to look at the intersections of gender, class, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender expression, and so on in order to understand how society works and to *try* to level the playing field.
Still, must have been uncomfortable to see your cousin in such a different way to how you remember her. Children grow up so quickly!