Daddy, I want to grow up to be a…. (update: March 7, 2009)
Some boys want to grow up to be.
Cowboys, firemen, president.
Not necessarily in that order.
Some girls now fancy themselves
supermodels, or people TMZ should stalk.
An adult film star or pop goddess,
the demarcation is getting
less clear each day, and sadly
so is the wait.
Once upon a time girls were given
dolls and play ovens, training
them to aspire to be
someone’s perfect little wife
some divine domestic goddess.
Now another lawyer or a doctor is chic.
It’s the principle not the money
parents insist.
We’ll do what we do best when we do what we love.
In my youth I loved a skirt suit
over a bow blouse maybe a ribbon.
I also loved serving men
bringing them food and refreshment
attending to men’s comfort
sate their needs,
all while wearing a suit and a smile.
What in the world can a grown up do,
wearing an outfit meant for the office,
remaining impossibly trim,
in makeup to please a man’s gaze,
greeting men with a smile when they arrive
bidding them a fond farewell when they depart,
almost yearning for their return,
even after they mistreat you
boss you around and humiliate you
in their chauvinistic way?
Eureka! An Air Stewardess!
An airborne Stepford Wife!
The only dream job I had in my youth.
We’ll do what we do best when we do what we love.
