What Do Women Want? by Kim Addonizio
What Do Women Want?
Kim AddonizioI want a red dress.
I want it flimsy and cheap,
I want it too tight, I want to wear it
until someone tears it off me.
I want it sleeveless and backless,
this dress, so no one has to guess
what’s underneath. I want to walk down
the street past Thrifty’s and the hardware store
with all those keys glittering in the window,
past Mr. and Mrs. Wong selling day-old
donuts in their café, past the Guerra brothers
slinging pigs from the truck and onto the dolly,
hoisting the slick snouts over their shoulders.
I want to walk like I’m the only
woman on earth and I can have my pick.
I want that red dress bad.
I want it to confirm
your worst fears about me,
to show you how little I care about you
or anything except what
I want. When I find it, I’ll pull that garment
from its hanger like I’m choosing a body
to carry me into this world, through
the birth-cries and the love-cries too,
and I’ll wear it like bones, like skin,
it’ll be the goddamned
dress they bury me in.
MARGINALIA
The truth? Today: a good book to curl up to. But sometimes a red dress, too. But for all time: you, yes, you.
ABOUT KIM ADDONIZIO
Kim Addonizio was born in Washington, D.C., on July 31, 1954. She received her BA and MA from San Francisco State University. Addonizio’s numerous books of poetry are Exit Opera (W. W. Norton, 2024); Now We’re Getting Somewhere (W. W. Norton, 2021); Mortal Trash (W. W. Norton, 2016); Lucifer at the Starlite (W. W. Norton, 2009); What Is This Thing Called Love: Poems (W. W. Norton, 2004); Tell Me (BOA Editions, 2000), which was a finalist for the National Book Award; Jimmy… (more)
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ENDNOTES
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martinanewberry
One of my favorites!