Neat picture

Ooh, I've read this before! I totally agree. Hehe.

This is lovely, DearSugar. I'm glad I came across it...

Ive read the last parts before, never this entire version. Really beautiful and it def strikes a chord with me too..thanks for posting!

so true! words to live by.

great poem..thanks for posting it!

Awesome Poem... So true

I may be the only one, but I do not find this poem beautiful or inspiring at all. Sure, on the surface it seems empowering. But in my opinion it is just another expression of all the ways in which women are expected to overachieve in this world - expectations that often lead women to feel that being "good enough" is never good enough. So many women feel that they need to be the perfect friend/daughter/partner/mother/employer plus find time to workout, throw fabulous dinner parties, look amazing and be well-read that they literally are making themselves sick. Because the truth is that women are still doing far more than their fair share of the work around the home, plus working full-time, plus feeling pressure to live up to all these other expectations listed in Sugar's "wonderful" poem.

So you can call me whatever names you like, but I am not going to apologize for not finding this poem beautiful or inspirational. And I am certainly not going to feel like less of a woman if I don't happen to care whether my furniture was handed down by parents or don't happen to own a drill.

If there are any Swedes reading this, I highly recommend the book "Diagnos: duktig. Handbok för överambitiösa tjejer och alla andra som borde bry sig", which discusses the phenomenon of Good Little Girl Syndrome that is being faced by women across the world.

KatieMise, I read the first few lines and thought the same! There are bits I like however ... mostly the ones having to do with knowledge of oneself.

Love it.

My favorite line: eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems,
and a recipe for a meal,
that will make her guests feel honored...
So true!

I hate to interject again (okay, let's face it, I don't really...), but I have mismatched plates and wine glasses, and I often order in when I have dinner guests because I can't cook/don't feel like cooking. I am pretty sure that my friends still feel honored, not by my dishes or the food I serve but by the love I shower upon them instead. Does this make me less of a woman?

I agree with a few and not so much with others but still thanks dear!

pretty cool poem. and i agree with you katiemise, with the cooking. I don't cook and i thought to myself-"um.. i don't cook. so where does that leave me?"

well I like the poem... I don't think it's a request for women to be perfect. On the contrast I feel this poem is giving women permission to accept themselves in whenever state they may be in. The poem also is telling women to not always settle for second best but to think themselves worthy of first rate things. Re-read this poem with an open mind and look past all the seemingly shallow statements... It's a poem that has a lot of heart and if anything allows women to break free of the restraints society puts her in.