Falling Figs, By Brian37 (AKA Brian James Rational Poet on FB/META and @Brianrrs37 on Twitter/X)

Oh Esther, you wanted to do better
Than Buddy and Constantin
The plethora of falling figs

Overwhelmed you, what could you do?
You didn’t want to be a domestic
You wanted a life of variety that’s hectic

To pave your own path, not to be part
Of that sedentary patriarchy, you wanted
To be the writer of your own stories

You felt stuck in fear that your only lot
Would be taking dictation from madmen

The options falling in front of you
Only to rot, for you took too much time
To make a choice

Failing from indecision, you wanted
To learn German, and speak
The idioms of Russians

You wanted to shake the shackles
Of gender roles, you had your goals
Your college days almost over

You didn’t want to be that letterman
With the trophy marking your tombstone.
(end)

This is an ode poem to Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar”.

In the book Esther sees herself as paralyzed by the fear of making career choices as being like ripe figs falling to the ground and not knowing which one to pick off the tree. She sees the hypocrisy of men being able to brag about how many women they slept with, but female purity was expected. She feared her career being limited because of her gender too.

Sylvia in her real life mentioned admiring people with skills she didn’t have and always wanting to pick their brains about their knowledge of things she was unfamiliar with. Thus the part about learning German and speaking “Russian idioms” in the book.

You’ll have to read Plath’s The Bell Jar to get the references. I highly recommend that book.