ENGLISH 457: Literature and the Sexes

a fictional woman commits adultery.
“The Storm.” A short story. By Kate Chopin.

Admirable, this woman--they say, these stick woman in spectacles and mushroom hair,
wearing chips on their shoulder like proud eagles,
because she did it during a time when the patriarchy was oppressive.

                     [but questions lurk in muddy moral waters.]

to be self-satisfied is to swim in a Cheshire cat fishbowl.
you’ve eaten all the smaller fish, fed in a frenzy, engorged yourselves, all because they protested too
loudly,
the murdered, the shredded
other opinions.

[no questions lurk in bloody waters]

all this I mutter
                             half-asleep.

f*****g feminists.
you love to hate the patriarchy
so much.

get a room.
I am beginning to suspect an s&m relationship
   beneath your petticoats.