the Stepford poems

Something’s been bugging me

It was not skillful, jumble-filled

I want to stay with it

Source: Levin, Ira. The Stepford Wives. Perennial Publishers, 2002. Print. Text taken from page 122.

red-penciled an asterisk

glaring venomously

measuring and planning

most of them were a waste

good or at least part good

Source: Levin, Ira. The Stepford Wives. Perennial Publishers, 2002. Print. Text taken from page 13.

the pooling of information grew worse quickly, quickly

The purpose is “strictly social”

So what’s so surprising about that?

*The language was removed after backlash, as documented here.

Source: Levin, Ira. The Stepford Wives. Perennial Publishers, 2002. Print. Text taken from page 97.

cool blue dusk twanging with crickets

the sky was lovely

Shoulder to shoulder

reaching till I really get going

Source: Levin, Ira. The Stepford Wives. Perennial Publishers, 2002. Print. Text taken from page 6.

elfin and translucent

cheerful and smiling

worth looking at

—being irrational, I hope it lasts

Source: Levin, Ira. The Stepford Wives. Perennial Publishers, 2002. Print. Text taken from page 91.

I knew I wasn’t

uniquely tornado-struck

solemnly chaotic

more crooked than I want to know

Source: Levin, Ira. The Stepford Wives. Perennial Publishers, 2002. Print. Text taken from page 39.

damn damn double-damn

no put-on graciousness

Are you really not deeply concerned ?

Source: Levin, Ira. The Stepford Wives. Perennial Publishers, 2002. Print. Text taken from page 17.

You don’t expect me to make

half-moons

do you?

Source: Levin, Ira. The Stepford Wives. Perennial Publishers, 2002. Print. Text taken from page 38.

meant to be a reconciliation

the dispute flared again

explanations a dazzle of glittery Nothing

It sounded like the first line of a poem

Source: Levin, Ira. The Stepford Wives. Perennial Publishers, 2002. Print. Text taken from page 64.

Whereases said

the usual falsely-friendly-appraising

I just hope we make it

Source: Levin, Ira. The Stepford Wives. Perennial Publishers, 2002. Print. Text taken from page 61.

arms folded

cool jade eyes

non-smiling

I forgive you

Source: Levin, Ira. The Stepford Wives. Perennial Publishers, 2002. Print. Text taken from page 30.

You don’t really believe that stuff, do you?

well, I said

You can’t lock up an open mind.

Source: Levin, Ira. The Stepford Wives. Perennial Publishers, 2002. Print. Text taken from page 34.

disquietingly inaccurate focus

moonlit suspiciousness

SHOCKING SECRET

bare afraid and silhouetted

Source: Levin, Ira. The Stepford Wives. Perennial Publishers, 2002. Print. Text taken from page 47.

she sounded washed out

tense

she couldn’t really give herself

mind made-up

Source: Levin, Ira. The Stepford Wives. Perennial Publishers, 2002. Print. Text taken from page 81.

signpost a hearty welcome

excitement Moving

leaving and filling

the surprising entrance

Source: Levin, Ira. The Stepford Wives. Perennial Publishers, 2002. Print. Text taken from page 3.

the men have banded together, industrious with old conventions

the liberated woman making different expressions

so lifelike you should consider trying

Source: Levin, Ira. The Stepford Wives. Perennial Publishers, 2002. Print. Text taken from page 94.

Something in the amusing color and sharp bustle

the energetic theater of a fresh eye

several viciously bad blows they didn’t say anything about

the absence of Development and Time

Source: Levin, Ira. The Stepford Wives. Perennial Publishers, 2002. Print. Text taken from page 23.