Sister Wives

[everyadventure]

Sister-wives bide time;
ankle-length dresses
and polite vacant smiles
in the supermarket line.

A discreet appraisal:
Kool-Aid, bananas,
a brick of yellow cheese.
Elbow macaroni
and bulk dried peas.
A kitchen, humid and happy.

This woman's braided bouffant
shares my exact shade of red.
My fingers itch to tug at her gingham sleeve
to whisper, "Are you happy?
Happier than me?"

To share a husband:
to only be responsible
for a sixth of the platitudes,
a sixth of his satisfaction.

I could do one-sixth
one hundred percent.

http://www.allword-news.co.uk/images/Polygamy%20in%20Canada%20-%20How%20many%20wives%20can%20a%20man%20have.jpg

[hillwalker]

The Stepford Wives go-a-shopping.

There's something really sad in this piece - that you are able to identify similar longings in another woman's shopping trolley or the colour she chooses to dye her hair. I reckon you've cornered the market in 'disaffected housewife poetry'

H

[MystyrMystyry]

They certainly appear to be happy with all that burden shared

I originally thought you were referring to the burqua-folk - the picture clarifies it, but, like butter, I feel a cloying clutch - the narrator doesn't envy them, wouldn't actually swap moccasins, but would rather they woke and stood up to their pointless oppressor with a lynch-pole and rope

Close?

[everyadventure]

@Hill Darn right I've cornered the market, so don't try to sneak onto my turf ;)

@Mystyr Envy? Mmm, I suppose the reality would be less idealistic than the poem speculates. But do I think they should wake up and lynch their oppressor? No, the polygamist wives seem to be a content group, which is more than can be said for most married women... a much lower divorce rate with those polygamists, in any case. Maybe because they don't have to spend much time with their husbands... ;)

[PrinceMyshkin]

The title and its reiteration in the first line is a bit misleading, given that most of your readers are likely to be cynical about the comradeship that phrase implies. Presenting it as prominently as you do, don't you have something of an obligation either to endorse the sisterly aspect of it, or to expose it as a sham?

Apart from that I was delighted in this free-spirited romp.

[Delta40]

Polygamy is curious but like any relationship structure, I am confident it is not without its challenges. I like the childlike curiousity in this poem EA.

[everyadventure]

@Prince: the term "sister-wife" is as common in polygamy as "sister-in-law" is in traditional marriages. It isn't one I coined... but as Hill hinted, I did use it to imply a connection between all the women standing in line.

@Delta & Sock: Thank you much. I'm certain I'd be the jealous type that all the other wives hated!!

[tailor STATELY]

Enjoyed.

An interesting study. Thoughtful.

Inserting judgment with the addition of "Kool-Aid" in counterpoint to "A discreet appraisal:" throws me off a bit, and skews your tone IMHO.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[everyadventure]

@tailor: Can you explain a bit more? It skews the tone because... one wouldn't notice the brand if they were just glancing? Or the fact that it's Kool-Aid instead of, say, apple juice, implies something...? I'd appreciate your feedback :)

[tailor STATELY]

"Kool-Aid" is used as a derogatory term, in general, by people who shade on the bigoted side - mostly against those of faith. You may have used the term unconsciously, subconsciously, or whatever - not mine to judge; but it does effect the tone when dealing with a faith-based subject... IMHO.

: I could also be way off base here.

Sincerely,
tailor STATELY

[Delta40]

We don't have Kool Aid in Oz and each time I hear it, I think the Reverend Jim Jones.

[tailor STATELY]

Precisely.

From wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid
"Drinking the Kool-Aid" is a metaphor, used in the United States and Canada, that means to become an unquestioning believer in some ideology, or to accept an argument or philosophy wholeheartedly or blindly without critical examination. The phrase usually implies that the ideology in question is not good. The term is a reference to the November 1978 Jonestown Massacre,[1][2] where members of the Peoples Temple were said to have committed suicide by drinking a "Kool-Aid"-like drink laced with cyanide.[3]

The sentence "usually implies that the ideology in question is not good. " is sugar coated IMHO.

So perhaps it's a Canadian or American thang. I have one other source I wish to check - then may be back.

Well, I'm back. I checked my source and decided while totally relevant (ok spell checker !), that I stand with what I have posted...

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[Hawkman]

Fascinating discussion about the kool-aid. I confess that I completely missed the reference as I thought it was merely an oblique way of excluding a brand-name. Like Cardinal Richeleu, "One really should be careful of what one writes..."

The poem is very well achieved and thought provoking. A metaphor for the metaphor of, "the grass is always greener..."? I liked it very much but I would love to know what the sister wives were thinking :)

Live and be well - H

[PrinceMyshkin]

@Prince: the term "sister-wife" is as common in polygamy as "sister-in-law" is in traditional marriages. It isn't one I coined... but as Hill hinted, I did use it to imply a connection between all the women standing in line.

Indeed, but if you hgh-lighted "sister-in-law" as you did "sister wives," one might choose (or even feel obliged) to wonder: was our attention being drawn to whether "law" could of itself create the closeness that "sister" implies?

[everyadventure]

@Tailor & Delta: Oh my heavens, you're RIGHT. How could I have missed that? :confused: It's kind of funny that I'd miss that in my own poem! I'm going to leave it, just because anybody reading this thread would wonder why the heck we were rambling on about Kool-Aid.

But rest assured it was unintentional, and if I were to write it again, I'd switch Kool-Aid to... peanut butter. Is that better?

Geez, I can be dense sometimes :brickwall

[Delta40]

No I think Kool Aid is a great discussion point and the beauty of poetry is so often readers notice what the writer doesn't. Peanut butter, smooth or crunchy doesn't pack the same punch as kool aid.

well done EA.

[munkinhead]

I thought the Kool-Aid line to be appropriate for another reason that might be less offensive to Christians, that being the barely pubescent vintage of many of the sisters in this sister wife equation. Oh wait, that is offensive as it is. The forced marriages of young girls, especially when supported by religous tradition is indefensible.

[zoolane]

I like this poem because it show other woman and wife view from their own culture, also it not gentle has reader might think when first few lines are readed. It beggar question how, why? would woman be involve in marriage like that?

[tailor STATELY]

LOL. Don't even get me started about peanut butter ! (just kidding)

[Jerrybaldy]

never heard of kool aid, but great, great posting Miss A

[jajdude]

Brilliant, as usual I'd imagine.

[hallaig]

Appealingly bitter. Don't know if there isn't a slight jarring between the first section where you court being critical of the sister wives (polite vacant smiles) and the end where you envy them. Good work though.