Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WHAT IF?, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WHAT IF?, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What if we hadn't women's clothes to laugh at?
Last Line: Absurd, divine, kaleidoscopic woman!
Subject(s): Clothing & Dress; Women


What if we hadn't women's clothes to laugh at?
What if the ladies all wore coats and derbies,
And all wore trousers of the self-same pattern,
And sheet-iron shirts and collars coldly formal,
And looked all just alike, the way we men do?

What if? It wouldn't be an hour, a minute,
Before the women would do something to them,
Poke in the derby, give the shirt a ruffle,
Discover new alignments for the collar,
Invert the trousers and create them graceful!

Because, you know, it's not with clothes we're dealing,
Not fashion-plates nor fabrics nor cosmetics,
But, back of all, and just the same without them,
Mysterious, adorable, perplexing,
Absurd, divine, kaleidoscopic Woman!





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