The Gracious, Sagacious And Audacious Male Poem by Gayathri Seetharam

The Gracious, Sagacious and Audacious Male
-Gayathri B. Seetharam
Keith Gesson, in his new book, A Terrible Country,
Reported The New York Times Book Review (Aug 12th,2018) ,
Has evoked something exceedingly rare in American fiction,
Genuine male vulnerability;

This seems at odds
With the hitherto celebrated supreme ability
Of the male sex
With stability of thought
Not unaccompanied by mercurial flashes of temper;

I researched Nikil Saval's book, another nplusone magazine's official, Cubed,
And looking to zero in on a stylistic feature
Thought that the predicate of a whole sentence,
"Office women had to prepare themselves for a world
Thick as any Jane Austen novel
With subtle codes and systems of manners"
Would do well to make my point;

The enthroned subject until the "white blouse revolution", the office men
Had to transform themselves for a world
As dense with matter as any Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novel
And it could not be peppered with ‘Elementary, my dear Gayathris'
For if there was the possibility that it could start a flow of tears
There was the other possibility that the modern feminist woman could beat you at your own game;

If the male became adaptable
The office woman became suitable for difficult tasks
And this resulted in the vulnerable male
Who was also seen as liable to commit errors;

Coming to present day Canada with its #MeToos of sexual harassment in the workplace
The male office man who is impalpable
Must develop an impenetrable, invisible barrier
For he has become more vulnerable;

If the office woman has reiterated her indelible place in society
The man has become more inscrutable
For she could, in some cases, be justifiable,
And in other heard cases, could be unreliable
And this makes the man genuinely vulnerable
Given that the female is herself vulnerable because of the nature of her sex
But he becomes honorable in many cases, in return
And as for the domestic man, he makes many things memorable for the woman.
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Acknowledgements:
1. Oxford English Dictionary
2. RhymeZone

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Please note: The Alamy Stock Photo says: As God is my witness, I speak nothing but the truth, so help me, God!