Summary

“The Applicant” begins by posing a question to an unnamed person. This person is an applicant for a marriage proposal. The speaker questions, “First, are you our sort of a person? / Do you wear / A glass eye, false teeth or a crutch, / A brace or a hook, / Rubber breasts or a rubber crotch” (1-5), asking the applicant to declare their social and gender position in somewhat ludicrous language.

In the next stanza the speaker inquires about the applicant’s deficits. The pushy tone is softened when the speaker, after affirming the emptiness of the applicant’s hand, crudely offers to fill it – “Empty? Empty. Here is a hand” (10).

The third stanza elaborates on the matrimonial offer. The speaker advertises the various utilities of such a matrimony. These are rendered in terms of the potential service provided by the anonymous spouse. The speaker affirms these...