"Swear It" by Marge Piercy

This poem is about the power words have on people, specifically swearing. I have to admit that I sometimes talk very colorfully. It's what I grew up with, my mom's side of the family swore a lot more than my father's side, but they had their moments, too. My situation is similar to the poets, she said her mothers side of the family was much more verbal than her father's side.

It made me think of how different language is now compared to what it was before. Before, you would get death-stares if you said a swear on the street during conversation with a friend, now everyone just minds their own business and doesn't say anything about it because everyone does it. This even applies to certain topics, like sex. In the 50's sex was taught as more as an anatomy thing and the way they taught kids how to not get pregnant was just through abstinence. Now, they teach kids more about the dangers of sex, protected and unprotected.

There are still some topics and words that are taboo or have become more offensive than before. For example Fag, Spic and Nigger. I would never, ever use those words because I believe that they are extremely disrespectful. But it seems as though even though people say they wont use those words, they still think prejudicially. It brings up the topic of solving and stopping prejudice actions, and the solution is, even if you don't say the words, thinking prejudicially is just as bad as saying the word.