My Heroes: (14) Fiona Pitt-Kethley

Who? Well she's a feminist poet whose work I used to buy in the 80's and who, now, like so many poets, can't get published even though her books sold in large quantities and were well publicised at that time. Doesn't sound promising does it? Her first successful collections were Sky Ray Lolly (1986) and Private parts (1987) and I have reproduced one of her poems below. She writes novels now, I think, and has gone to live in Spain. She managed to be funny, incisive and serious, sometimes all at the same time.

Headaches

Men are the ones that have the headaches now.

Back in my mother's day, when girls said no

most of the time, they were after it -

or so they said - in pain with their erections.

But now we call their bluff by answering yes -

the truth is out - they want it less than us.

Most of my female friends are on the pill,

willing, good-looking too. What do we get?

Men who can't quite make up their tiny minds.

The bastards are all Marvell's-mistress-coy,*

perhaps insane, certainly undersexed.

What can the problem be? Are they afraid

of pregnancy or rape? Or is it just

that men fear sex is like a driving test

where they must get every bit right or fail?

Two men fell laughing through our chemist's door.

One said he'd like some pills, something to give

his friend. 'What's wrong?' the chemist asked the man.

'He hasn't had a girl at all for weeks.'

'That's normal, sir!' Too right it is, I thought.

From 'Private Parts' Chatto, 1987

*See my earlier post about Marvell