Art & DesignDuke FORM

The Double Standard

Art & DesignDuke FORM
The Double Standard

A poem based on Susan Sontag’s “The Double Standard of Aging.” To be read both forwards and backwards.

Beauty

Is

Pain

Mama

Told

I

Nothing else matters

If

You can’t find

A guy

Don’t focus on

Your plan

That undermines

The man

Forget

The city

Stick with

Pretty, girls!

 

To Buy

The products

We become

Youthful again

To be feminine is to be

Nice

 

Otherwise

He won’t find you

Or have strong interests or ask

Away

 

To turn

Men’s desires

From

Being resistant

To be helpless

Is

To be a lady

 

And our joy should never stay

Hidden

Keep our years

And

Just hold on

The only way to succeed is to

Keep believing

But we

Know this to be true

Sorry, women.

 

The girls

Say

I can

Look like the models

We’re not supposed to

Change

The

Leading

Scientists & artists are

Collaborating

Novelty with experience

Erasing

The fine line

For it is

Common wisdom for all

Aging enhances

A man

But progressively destroys

A woman

 

WRITING BY SKYLER GRAHAM