Women's Literature from 1960 to the Present - Denise Levertov (Poem Date 1967)
DENISE LEVERTOV (POEM DATE 1967)
SOURCE: Levertov, Denise. "Hypocrite Women." In Poems, 1960-67. New Directions, 1967.
The following poem by Levertov was composed in 1967, and like many of the poet's other works, it focuses on issues of female self-definition and the complex nature of femininity.
"HYPOCRITE WOMEN"
Hypocrite women, how seldom we speak
of our own doubts, while dubiously
we mother man in his doubt!
And if at Mill Valley perched in the trees
the sweet rain drifting through western air
a white sweating bull of a poet told us
our cunts are ugly—why didn't we
admit we have thought so too? (And
what shame? They are not for the eye!)
No, they are dark and wrinkled and hairy,
caves of the Moon … And when a
dark humming fills us, a
coldness towards life,
we are too much women to own to
such...
[The entire page is 223 words long]
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