This girlchild was born as usual
and presented dolls that did pee-pee
and miniature GE stoves and irons
and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy
Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:
You have a great big nose and fat legs.
She was healthy, tested intelligent,
possessed strong arms and back,
abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.
She went to and fro apologizing.
Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.
She was advised to play coy.
exhorted to come on hearty,
exercise, diet, smile and wheedle.
Her good nature wore out
like a fan belt.
So she cut off her nose and her legs
and offered them up.
In the casket displayed on satin she lay
with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on,
a turned-up putty nose,
dressed in a pink and white nightie.
Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said.
Consummation at last.
To every woman a happy ending.
One thing that I liked about this poem was how she was very nice about it and tried apologizing to everyone. She was a very nice girl, but in the end she did something tragic.
One thing that I disliked about this poem was how sad it was. It was a very depressing poem, and in the end the girl takes her life because one person bullied her and she listened.
One thing that confused me about this poem was if she actually had a big nose and thick legs. In the end, everyone thinks she is beautiful. I couldn't tell if only one person saw that or if it was actually true.
The main poetic device used in this poem is the use of verbal irony. Verbal irony is simply saying the opposite of what one means. An example of this is the line in the poem, "You have a great big nose and fat legs." This was actually false in my presumption of the poem. Everyone but this one person thought she was beautiful. Maybe this one classmate was using verbal irony.
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