Analysis of:
HE ASKS HER TO PIN HER PANTIES TO THE LINE
Lynne McMahon

behind her less provocative clothes, flowing
shirts are fine, even better, towels,
dust rags, denim jeans, things
pedestrians passing by won't construe
as lewd, invitations to pursue the nude
odalisqued inside, languidly waiting
while her laundry dries, idly
painting her toes, perhaps,
or adding charms to her ankle chain,
dipping berries into brut champagne.

© 2000 by The Atlantic Monthly Group

In "He Asks Her to Pin Her Panties to the Line," Lynne McMahon relates the commonplace episode in the life of one woman to a recurrent theme in literature - the theme of appearance versus reality. Though she maintains an exterior of modesty and propriety in her superficial, everyday relationships, the lady reveals her highly sexual character in the privacy of her home. Throughout the poem, McMahon is able to use simple and unadorned language to create this atmosphere of sensuality and a sense of insouciance.

In the opening line, the poet immediately hints at the woman's effort to avoid any kind of indecent exposure and neighborhood gossip, which she finally states outright in lines 4 and 5. The woman understands the human tendency to interpret sexy lingerie as eroticism and "invitations to pursue the nude," so she refuses to air out her dirty laundry. Instead, she hides these unmentionable underthings and visual aphrodisiacs behind much more innocent-looking items - "her less provocative clothes."

After she secures the improbability that the "pedestrians passing by" in line 4 will discover her less suggestive side, the lady relaxes and rewards herself with an afternoon of self-indulgence. In lines 8-10, she spoils herself by "painting her toes.../or adding charms to her ankle chain, dipping berries into brut champagne." Such actions point to her glamorous nature, contrary to the public persona that chooses to wear those plain denim jeans. They also reveal her allure, that she seems only to use to seduce that particular man who "asks her to pin her panties to the line."

McMahon structures the poem in one continuous set of ten lines, in which she seems to break the lines in random places. She chooses to do so to convey a lack of personal inhibitions and restraints that the woman feels, as she lounges behind the figurative white picket fence and away from the critical eyes of the world. Adding to the indistinction between ideas, McMahon also fails to develop a rhyme scheme. In fact, the poet divides the phrase, "construe as lewd," in lines 4 and 5, whereas if she had placed the whole phrase on line 4, a pattern of rhyme would have occurred in every 4th and 5th line in the poem. Nevertheless, these words do create, with "pursue the nude," parallel internal rhyme.

The language used throughout most of the poem consists of standard English words and an uncomplicated style. However, in lines 4 through 7, assonance, internal rhyme, and multisyllabic words develop an air of both sophistication and peace. These lines seem to roll off the reader's tongue with words such as inside, dries, and idly which all contain the same vowel sound. Despite the absence of aesthetic language, such a technique is still able to create an image of a warm, sunny day, with the clothes flowing the breeze. Still, this quiet, calm atmosphere seems tainted by the secretive, scandalous nature of the woman, especially in line 6 with McMahon's choice of diction, in using the phrase "odalisqued inside." The word "odalisque" denotes a sort of concubine, and the word "inside" proves that she's hiding this identity underneath. At the same time however, while "odalisque" connotes a woman of submission and lowliness, the decision of the woman to mask her lascivious side is clearly her own, since at the end of the poem, she sips champagne and glories in the fact that she's fooled the world about her true nature.