Women gathered.
Knowledge. Nappies.
They learned
Their places
Beside bedsides,
Machines, and graves.
Women’s wealth
Wasn’t worth
Ticking cloth.
They backed
Husbands and fathers.
In the war.
Some men returned
Bandaged or broken,
Whole, or not at all.
But when men
Come home, the
Women have to.
Riveting biceps
Industrial muscles
To lift laundry,
Bolted to stoves
As sure as sheet
Metal to planes.
The same nylons,
Sewn to save lives
Men parachute
Alive, lifted aloft
Gartered the girls
On the ground.
Before the men
Came home,
The women ran,
Barren or barefoot,
Lithe or lame,
But hunter-free.