In the rooms the women spread their little quiets
as they concentrate upon their diets.
In the rooms they communicate in gestures
what they dare not say in words to their oppressors.
In the rooms where the women come and go,
who may now object to talk of Michelangelo, but
of Laurie Anderson, Bell Hooks and Frieda Kahlo
will speak sometimes, earnestly and low,
In the ivory rooms where mostly women arranged in ranks of desks
study privileged discussion of the voices of the oppressed,
as published in a most specialized class of press,
while arrayed in fashionable dress,
To those small communal rooms where they simply share,
each supporting each under the strain that each must bear
by quiet caring presence, just being there,
If I dared to go a-wooing, what would I wear?