Poem for December: For the young who want to.

For the young who want to
by Marge Piercy

This is under copyright. Please see this link: (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=176837)

Reading about Piercy’s life, I feel as though she was born one decade early. She went to college in the 1950s, when it was all about getting your MRS, when she would have clearly fit in much better in the 1960s, when it was all about–well, thanks to innumerable books, movies, history channel specials and general fawning over the times–we all know what it was all about.

So there is a thread of bitterness that runs through her poems which I respect because she earned her bitterness the hard way. No one has ever told me I should have a baby and for that I thank the hard work of Piercy and her contemporaries, and all the feminists who come before them.

2 thoughts on “Poem for December: For the young who want to.”

  1. I have never heard the word – phlogiston – and I am intrigued. I really, really like this poem. As one who has been told to have babies (and might even want to, but doesn't need any more pressure) and feels a little bitter right now – it resonated. Thank you for sharing.

  2. I had to look up "phlogiston" myself, which I did after questioning the teacher at school who knows a lot about science. He didn't know what it was either. When we found out, he said, "Those old scientists were so lucky. They just got to make things up all the time." I asked him how that was different from today.

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