Followers

January 18, 2011

Curse You, Sylvia Plath

Curse you, Sylvia Plath
For making me care
To love your words
Words that nail and rail

Tearing up-down walls

Curse you, for your daddy
No one else could have been
Lady Lazarus in a bell jar
Life, a lie, alive

Hiding behind perfect Arian features

With clean, fashion-sensible shoes
You walked on big city streets
Wet and dirty and litter-strewn
Sweater warm against the cold wind

You would have blown away like a bright kite

I want to fill you on your hospital bed
Watch your cheeks flushing red
With blood the ghouls will later drain
Blood you’ve already tried to let flow

Flowers wither and wilt, unwanted

Why wasn’t I a tulip
Born that much sooner
Just to be yours for awhile
Another unloved lover

Sacrifice sung, then eaten

But you moved in other circles
Traveling about your world
A cold world I can never know
Except from what you tell me

Inscribed in indelible black

Feeling the world too deeply
Drowning in too many seas
While the desert inside
Left your soul arid as

Your words seeped out

Could I had saved you
From yourself, the world
To just be a ragdoll, limp
Would I even care then?

Or do I care because I did not?

Curse you, Sylvia, my dearest
For drawing-out knives
Sharp-tongued words
That break and cut skin

Bleeding as real as now

36 comments:

  1. MarianJanuary 18, 2011 at 10:05 AM

    this is so beautiful, eric. scorching and epic.
    "would i even care then?" good question. wow.

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  2. Brian MillerJanuary 18, 2011 at 11:29 AM

    dude nice trib to plath...great stuff

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  3. BubbaJanuary 18, 2011 at 12:27 PM

    This was a tough write, which was something new to me. Lots of threads tied up here.

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  4. MarianJanuary 18, 2011 at 12:48 PM

    just telling you i am coming back to read it over and over.
    lots of best parts.

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  5. Lisa Ricard ClaroJanuary 18, 2011 at 1:55 PM

    Beautiful and thought provoking, Eric. Very well done.

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  6. BubbaJanuary 18, 2011 at 1:57 PM

    I'm glad people appreciate this one. I also hope it might encourage people to read Plath who may not have read her work before.

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  7. MarionJanuary 18, 2011 at 2:46 PM

    This is awesome, Eric. Your best one yet. I love Plath, too. xoxo

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  8. BijouxJanuary 18, 2011 at 2:47 PM

    I read 'The Bell Jar' about 5 years ago. I can't say that I could relate to any of it, but it's good to understand what others go through.

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  9. TimoteoJanuary 18, 2011 at 5:37 PM

    Ahh...poetic souls, so sensitive, and too easily hurt by that which brings out the beauty of their self-expression...a double-edged sword to be sure.

    I think this is one of your best.

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  10. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2011 at 5:43 PM

    Plath is one of my favourites too, so tragic a life but a wealth if words that made us feel. I think shed have dug this Eric ;)

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  11. MeJanuary 18, 2011 at 5:51 PM

    Whoa. This is amazing. I always enjoy my visits, Eric...but this is so different than your normal fare, and I really like it.
    -C

    PS - you still owe me a music review. ;)

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  12. anthonynorthJanuary 18, 2011 at 6:01 PM

    An excellent tribute.

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  13. Kenia SantosJanuary 18, 2011 at 6:21 PM

    I love it! And Sylvia Plath as well. =) The references in the poem are brilliantly organized. =)

    Well done!

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  14. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2011 at 6:21 PM

    Great tribute to Plath

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  15. TALONJanuary 18, 2011 at 7:28 PM

    What a fabulous tribute, Eric. So well done!

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  16. Brother OllieJanuary 18, 2011 at 7:45 PM

    She is a gem.

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  17. dustusJanuary 18, 2011 at 8:21 PM

    Amazing, Eric! Brings out both the personalities of Plath and the speaker.

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  18. hedgewitchJanuary 18, 2011 at 8:46 PM

    One of your best, Eric. The work you put into shows. The woman really got to you a lot of levels, I'd say.

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  19. Maude LynnJanuary 18, 2011 at 9:35 PM

    "Or do I care because I did not?"

    Excellent.

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  20. PattiKenJanuary 18, 2011 at 9:44 PM

    Wonderful, Eric. You deserve to be proud.

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  21. Katherine KrigeJanuary 18, 2011 at 10:05 PM

    Sylvia was such a sad soul. So much drama and strife and you bleed for her in such a poignant way. I like Plath, but might have to revisit her again to refresh. Nice write Eric

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  22. RiverJanuary 18, 2011 at 10:13 PM

    Well done Eric! Capturing the beauty of Plath and the tragically ugly. I wonder if you would have cared? I have a hunch you would have cared very much. :)

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  23. AsobimeJanuary 18, 2011 at 10:52 PM

    This is so different from what I have read of yours before...but that is just to say that your creativity is leaping like frogs in a pond!!

    Not only a great tribute, but a very sensitive and layered poem.

    Very, very good and haunting.

    Lady Nyo

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  24. AsobimeJanuary 18, 2011 at 10:53 PM

    Yikes...I lost my comment, but this is very different from what I have read of yours before, which is just to say that your creativity knows no boundaries.

    Marvelous and many layered.

    Lady Nyo

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  25. SheilaJanuary 19, 2011 at 2:13 AM

    must admit - I've shied away from her for personal reasons...but your tribute has me thinking and maybe I will take a peek at her work again someday soon. I like the reprimanding tone in this one - strong emotions came through.

    this is my fav line: Drowning in too many seas
    While the desert inside
    Left your soul arid

    I am wondering about the single lines spaced between each stanza...they seem to connect into their own special meaning, especially when I read them in pairs...just wondering.

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  26. Jenne' R. Andrews January 19, 2011 at 3:29 AM

    stunned at how bold and tender, to come right out and offer yourself to the Goddess of Despair, dear SP. I have no doubt you would have fractured the bell jar for her. xxxj

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  27. BubbaJanuary 19, 2011 at 7:04 AM

    Thank you, everyone, for your encouraging responses to this one. I'd struggled both with writing it and with deciding to post it. But I see I made the right decision.

    If you've not read Sylvia Plath's poetry, or if it's been awhile, I highly recommend doing so.

    It's not always easy reading, but I can say you probably won't forget it.

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  28. MarianJanuary 19, 2011 at 10:46 AM

    you made me pull out my old batter copy of Colossus last night. and now i am back to read this AGAIN. just so magnificent, Eric. bravo!

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  29. izzyJanuary 19, 2011 at 11:12 AM

    Oh yes Sylvia! thanks for this, she surely taught me a great deal, long ago- loved dark and sharp tongued. It was so sad that she is/ was gone...
    I loved your idea of flushed cheeks- great!

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  30. flaubertJanuary 19, 2011 at 1:31 PM

    Eric, Plath is one of my favourites, you have written a wonderful tribute here.
    Pamela

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  31. earthgirlJanuary 19, 2011 at 2:48 PM

    I don't know who you are, but you dissected my heart just now...and I liked it

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  32. UnknownJanuary 19, 2011 at 3:32 PM

    what an amazing piece. so boldly put & clever.

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  33. KavitaJanuary 19, 2011 at 5:29 PM

    I like the depth of this, Eric...
    "Or do I care because I did not?" - that really said and meant a lot!!! The hypotheses/speculations in our lives take up more of our time than is required! :) I think this thought is very well expressed in your poem!
    Bravo, my friend!

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  34. StrangerJanuary 20, 2011 at 12:04 AM

    I love Sylvia Plath and I love this poem. Fantastic job getting the allusions to specific poems in without being too obvious or heavy with references.

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  35. Shashidhar SharmaJanuary 21, 2011 at 4:58 AM

    Hi Eric

    A great tribute to her... liked it so much... and your passion for her words and her life...
    Thanks for sharing..

    ॐ नमः शिवाय
    Om Namah Shivaya
    http://shadowdancingwithmind.blogspot.com
    Twitter: @VerseEveryDay

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  36. TotalfeckineejitJanuary 22, 2011 at 2:07 PM

    Lovely poem, fine writing throughout but this line socked me hard in the kisser!

    'You would have blown away like a bright kite'

    I love that.

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