ELIZABETH TREADWELL

WHAT IS (PART OF) YOUR GREAT RECESSION EXPERIENCE? / HOW HAS IT AFFECTED YOUR POETRY? / PLEASE SHARE A POEM(S) ADDRESSING YOUR EXPERIENCE:

Hi Eileen, This is a not-quite-poem/hardly essay that I wrote in some frustration last year as a stay-at-home/underemployed (ha!) mom, after turning down an invitation to the Women's Innovative Poetry & Cross-Genre Work Festival. Thanks for creating this space. Elizabeth

homebody:
on not going to the conference in London

I’m tired of talking about women.
I’d rather talk about men.
How they are coddled creatively.
Their absurd, obtuse visions.

And, more sympathetically, how
male dominance obscures
the true contributions of men
as well as women.

Also I don’t have enough money,
and even less affiliation.

And I have two girl babies
who need me closer to home
these years.

And I love them.

1/19/10

Elizabeth Treadwell with her daughters

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ABOUT THE POET:

Elizabeth Treadwell's books include LILYFOIL + 3 (O Books, 2004) and Birds & Fancies (Shearsman, 2007). Virginia or the mud-flap girl is forthcoming from Dusie Books in 2012. She is online at elizabethtreadwell.com.




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