Rate-A-Poem: The Black Art

Rate if below, or expand if no choice applies to you:

  • 5 Stars: A masterpiece

    Votes: 9 60.0%
  • 4 Stars: A strong poem, but some elements didn't appeal to me

    Votes: 5 33.3%
  • 3 Stars: A good poem, but it didn't move me to any great extent

    Votes: 1 6.7%
  • 2 Stars: A flawed or uninspiring piece of work

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1 Star: Does absolutely nothing for me

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    15

dahmnait

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When you figure it out, will you let me know?
by Anne Sexton
(1928 - 1974)

The Black Art

A woman who writes feels too much,
those trances and portents!
As if cycles and children and islands
weren't enough; as if mourners and gossips
and vegetables were never enough.
She thinks she can warn the stars.
A writer is essentially a spy.
Dear love, I am that girl.

A man who writes knows too much,
such spells and fetiches!
As if erections and congresses and products
weren't enough; as if machines and galleons
and wars were never enough.
With used furniture he makes a tree.
A writer is essentially a crook.
Dear love, you are that man.

Never loving ourselves,
hating even our shoes and our hats,
we love each other, precious, precious.
Our hands are light blue and gentle.
Our eyes are full of terrible confessions.
But when we marry,
the children leave in disgust.
There is too much food and no one left over
to eat up all the weird abundance.
 
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A. Hamilton

here for a minute...catch me?
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I just love her work. Her poems are not particularly lovely, they don't flow-rather they gouge. This piece is packed with so much to ponder. The odd word sets startle and lead the mind toward the ordinary, making no surprise other than that we should have understood all along.
 

dahmnait

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I hadn't read her until today. Since I ran across her poem, Snow White and The Seven Dwarves, I have been pouring over her work. She is now up there with my favorites. I love the raw feeling her work has.
 

poetinahat

say it loud
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It's mighty personal and accusatory, and it's not just a mirror -- it's a magnifying glass. It makes me uncomfortable.

P.H. describes it very well for me. It's not lovely, but it's intense.
 

Shweta

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Wow. Thank you for putting this up, or I may never have read it.
And that would have been a great pity.
 

davids

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Brilliant as PH said they gouge, kick my ass-which I love-and love her stuff!!!!
 

Unique

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I love the nastiness of it...the truth of it. She had a way of cutting to the bone...herself and others. She saw what was there and reflected it back whether or not it was nice. The truth, through Anne's eyes, hurt.

Horrors! KTC and I are agreeing again.

I haven't read much of Sexton's work but this poem brings to mind Sylvia Plath for some reason. Anyone have a clue why? Maybe it's just the nonchalant bitterness ...

ah, who knows? it's lovely in its truthiness.
 

nerds

of all the gin joints
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Sexton and Plath grew up in the same area, knew each other, related to each other all too well -


from

http://www.dianemiddlebrook.com/sexton/tim9-23.html

"Sexton told her psychiatrist, 'Sylvia Plath's death disturbs me. Makes me want it too. She took something that was mine, that death was mine!' "
 

nerds

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Pretty much, yes. And then there was Assia, whom Ted Hughes left Sylvia for. That was a bad, bad deal there. Assia essentially felt the same thing Sexton did, that Sylvia's manner of departure simply could not be beat for, well, grandeur and everlasting renown. So Assia decided to go Sylvia one better, in the most tragic of ways.

A very tangled group of people, but they sure generated a lot of intriguing poetry, including the OP. (avoiding derailment. carry on.)
 
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dolores haze

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Assia did a terrible, terrible thing. Unforgiveable.
I have Anne Sexton reserved at the library. Thanks for posting this poem.
 

dahmnait

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Pretty much, yes. And then there was Aissa, whom Ted Hughes left Sylvia for. That was a bad, bad deal there. Aissa essentially felt the same thing Sexton did, that Sylvia's manner of departure simply could not be beat for, well, grandeur and everlasting renown. So Aissa decided to go Sylvia one better, in the most tragic of ways.

A very tangled group of people, but they sure generated a lot of intriguing poetry, including the OP. (avoiding derailment. carry on.)
No derailment. I believe that Rate-a-Poems were started to encourage just this type of discussion.

Like Kevin, I have much more to read now.
 
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