When I gave up my job
You were secretly pleased
I could see it in your puffed up chest
Your barely concealed smirk
The days after she came and my funds ran dry
I could see the cogs turning
Your mock indignation when I came to you
For housekeeping
Your weekly stipend
Bestowed
A benevolent benefactor
The expectation bedded in
That I would clean
Shop
Cook
And provide love enough for you all
And those were just the early days
When I wanted to return but found nothing to return to
You smiled your patronizing smile
Loving every moment
Your choice made for you
By a deck already stacked in your favour
The sympathy in your voice
Never traveling to your eyes
The little woman
Playing house
Suited you just fine
When they closed the bank accounts
Of the independent women you barely blinked
When they turfed them out of their jobs you didn’t twitch a muscle
When they rescinded our votes
You said
You never voted anyway
And I knew then what I’d always known
It worked for you
We worked for you
Having me under a thumb
Clipped
It served your purpose
All your liberal views mattered not one jot
When you wouldn’t speak for me
When the status quo did it for you
Played out perfectly
You threw me and all like me under the bus
For washed clothes
And a cooked meal on a spotless dining room table
A regular fuck
And a well kept home
When that’s the price to keep the world your way
We were always on a lot waiting for the lowest bidder
We were never going to hold the keys
Or call the shots
And my partner was never that
We were always going to live worlds apart
Under the very same roof
The Feminist Poet 