A Woman's Work

I am scared

to marry you.

I do not want

to forget

passion—

black ink

on clean sheets

pencil markings

in the margins

next to texts.

Mama told me

“A woman’s work is

never done.”

Garbage

must always be taken out

Dishes

must always be done

Dinner

must always be made

Clothes

must always be washed

There is a list

longer than a study guide

on Chaucer.

But I’m afraid

that the notes

I make

for The Canterbury Tales

will be lost

in the hamper

wetted in the washing machine

torn in the dryer

and pressed by the iron.

Mama told me another thing—

to marry

a man smarter than myself.

She said it would make me

smarter.

But I know she said this

so I won’t feel

a lost cause

when gardening

and tidying

because the partners

are coming to dinner.

©Julie Bolitho.“A Woman’s Work,” Poem. The Offbeat: Fully Clothed. Michigan State University Press: Vol. 6. (Spring 2006), p. 76-77.