[stylist] Poem - "Antoinette"

[William L Houts]

HI Thea,

Good questions all.  The speaker of the poem isn't nailed down quite so 
specifically as that.  The thing is, the title is meant more than a 
little ironically.  The poem expresses something about the current world 
situation, and the way in which we Americans sit in a privileged 
position, much in the same way that Marie Antoinette did a few centuries 
ago.  That's  the sneaky thing about poets, I guess;  they don't always 
dot their i's and  cross their t's.  Some poets are more polite than 
that, but it seems that I'm not one of their number, LOL.


--Bill








On 3/17/2014 9:37 AM, Miss Thea wrote:
> Was this Marie Antoinette speaking?
> I really liked your use of language.
> Question: How did the movie house and the web get into Antoinette's day?
> Or was she looking as into the future?
> Thea
>
> -----Original Message----- From: William L Houts
> Sent: Monday, March 17, 2014 11:36 AM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: [stylist] Poem - "Antoinette"
>
> Hey Peeps,
>
> Here's a poem I wrote this summer, recovered this morning after some
> hard drive archaeology.  I think it has legs; your mileage may vary, ha.
>
>
> --Bill
>
>
> ---
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> For fifteen years
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> it's been a hard life, poverty rife
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> and replete with disease.
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> It's not complaint, I'm just
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> speaking up. IN this country,
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> we scrub heaven's streets
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> with wire brushes and eat
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> our dolor like cake.
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> The movie house helps, and the Web,
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> and the cheap greasy eats which
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> will kill us all grinning.
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> Most days, I hardly bitch.
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> Cold unhoped for water
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> spills tapwise, filling my
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> cups, faithful as falls.
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> I void in toilets,
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> in peaceful, clean, unhoped for
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> waters, always granted.
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> Unhoped for too, these graces,
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> by billions who squat, and bear
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> their stench in public streets:
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> filthy, betrayed, and naked as fire.
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-- 
"Let's drink a toast now to who we really are."

           --Jane Siberry