Loose Talk

Katie Donovan

The market for sex dolls is on the rise
The Guardian, June 5, 2018

Nag, prattle, palaver -
he’s had enough
of loudmouthed chatter -
better to invest
in a life-like version,
a girly robot doll,
great for sex
and a button to press
if he wants “talk.”
The deluxe model
will laugh at his jokes.

                                  Unless she entertains     
                                    he prefers
                                    
the dumb tongue.

I’m with the old wives:
it’s our tales that get told.
Silence is false gold
if it swallows up
assault, incest, rape;
medical mistakes.
I’ll speak as I wish –
roses or toads –
with the audacious gossips:
no secret safe
between our lips.

Katie Donovan is an Irish poet living in Dalkey, a suburb of Dublin. She has published five collections of poetry and her work has been widely anthologized.
Originally published:
July 1, 2019

Featured

10 Ways Ms., Sassy, and Jezebel Changed Your Life!

How contradiction drove fifty years of feminist media
Maggie Doherty

How Emily Wilson Reimagined Homer

Her boldly innovative translation of the Iliad is an epic for our time
Emily Greenwood

In the Shallows

Why do public intellectuals condescend to their readers?
Becca Rothfeld

You Might Also Like

The Staircase

Christina Pugh

Song

Hannah Hirsh

Subscribe

New perspectives, enduring writing. Join a conversation 200 years in the making. Subscribe to our print journal and receive four beautiful issues per year.
Subscribe