The poem “The Secretary Chant” by Marge Piercey has many features that will draw the reader into it. The words in a poem are more meaningful than they may appear. Each line has a specific purpose. There is a reason for every word; otherwise, it would be a different poem.
The first line is the key to the entire poem. Piercy personifies her desk as hips. The rest of the poem relies on this metaphor. What comes to mind when you hear the word desk? It is often a place to work. This is where all the supplies are placed and work is done. She says her hips are like a table because they’re the foundation of her entire body. The poem has many metaphors, comparing various body parts with office products. The poem shows a woman becoming a walking working machine. She believes that she is the basis of the office, and she feels like she can do everything.
Rubber bands form my hair. The two lines can be interpreted in many ways. These phrases have a clear meaning: She is where everyone gets their office supplies. However, there is more to the sentences. What is the purpose of rubber bands and paperclips? These are used to keep things together. The fact that she’s made from these two things implies that the secretary is what holds the office together. She is the glue that holds the whole office together.
Four onomatopoeias are used in this poem: click, buzz, zing, tinkle. These words play a major role in the poem. Piercy uses these words to enhance the effects she has created with other office products. The words in this poem are grouped together in pairs. They appear in the seventh line and the fourteenth line. Even the placement of words can create an impression. It’s almost like the sounds interrupt the text, giving it an industrial feel.
Piercy continues to describe her brain in two ways. The first is to compare it with a badly-organized file. She says she does this because secretary’s have many different tasks to manage. Piercy continues, “My brain is a switchedboard where crossed line crackle.” Most likely a secretary will have to organize more than one individual. When Piercy says that crossed line crackle, it means that she is likely to confuse information.
Piercy then continues the poem with “Swollen and heavy, I’m about to receive a baby Xerox.” The inclusion of this line in the poem is to emphasize its depressing feeling of insignificance. Piercy was expressing her feeling that women will never be more than secretaries. She is delivering a Xerox-machine, implying that her child will do the exact same job as she does. Also, the use of Xerox comes from the fact that a Xerox copy machine is all it was designed for. Ironic, because she’s making an exact replica of herself just like a Xerox would.
The final line in this poem is the most important. It shows the reader the changes women are going through at work. Piercy created this poem to express herself. She feels that her work has taken over her life as a human being. In 1973, she was still fighting for equality. The last phrase is a reminder that in 1973, women still struggled for equality.
The poem is both literal and has a deeper message. Piercy uses metaphors, personifications and other techniques to express her feelings about women not being treated as equals in the work place. The onomatopoeias in the poem break it up, making the poem look gloomy.
