Underwear
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

I didn’t get much sleep last night / thinking about underwear / Have you ever stopped to consider / underwear in the abstract / When you really dig into it / some shocking problems are raised / Underwear is something / we all have to deal with / Everyone wears / some kind of underwear / The Pope wears underwear I hope / The Governor of Louisiana / wears underwear / I saw him on TV / He must have had tight underwear / He squirmed a lot / Underwear can really get you in a bind / You have seen the underwear ads / for men and women / so alike but so different / Women’s underwear holds things up / Men’s underwear holds things down / Underwear is one thing / men and women have in common / Underwear is all we have between us / You have seen the three-color pictures / with crotches encircled / to show the areas of extra strength / and three-way stretch / promising full freedom of action / Don’t be deceived/ It’s all based on the two-party system / which doesn’t allow much freedom of choice / the way things are set up / America in its Underwear / struggles thru the night / Underwear controls everything in the end / Take foundation garments for instance / They are really fascist forms / of underground government / making people believe / something but the truth / telling you what you can or can’t do / Did you ever try to get around a girdle / Perhaps Non-Violent Action / is the only answer / Did Gandhi wear a girdle? / Did Lady Macbeth wear a girdle? / Was that why Macbeth murdered sleep? / And that spot she was always rubbing—Was it really in her underwear? / Modern anglosaxon ladies / must have huge guilt complexes / always washing and washing and washing / Out damned spot / Underwear with spots very suspicious / Underwear with bulges very shocking / Underwear on clothesline a great flag of freedom / Someone has escaped his Underwear / May be naked somewhere / Help! / But don’t worry / Everybody’s still hung up in it / There won’t be no real revolution / And poetry still the underwear of the soul / And underwear still covering / a multitude of faults / in the geological sense— strange sedimentary stones, inscrutable cracks! / If I were you I’d keep aside / an oversize pair of winter underwear / Do not go naked into that good night / And in the meantime / keep calm and warm and dry / No use stirring ourselves up prematurely / ‘over Nothing’ / Move forward with dignity / hand in vest / Don’t get emotional / And death shall have no dominion / There’s plenty of time my darling / Are we not still young and easy / Don’t shout