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The poem is not a very good one. Wendy Cope has written better (eg condensing 'The Waste Land' to five limericks). Nevertheless, it seems to me a bit literal minded to see it as a hymn of hate to men. For one thing, I'm quite sure she doesn't hate men (she has one poem, a pastiche of the 'My Cat Jeffrey' passage from Jubilate Agno, which is surprisingly moving in its attempt to understand the male psychology of a lover - surprisingly because it is after all only a piece of light verse). But more importantly I think we ought to distinguish between hate and banter, which is only a sort of flirting in reverse. By the way, she has another poem called 'TUMPs', or Typically Useless Male Poets, which, as stereotypes go, scores a few hits - at least it's pretty true of me Best wishes Matthew Francis [mailto:[log in to unmask] 01443 482856 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%