Oh, love, why do we argue like this?
I am tired of all your pious talk.
Also, I am tired of all the dead.
They refuse to listen,
so leave them alone.
Take your foot out of the graveyard,
they are busy being dead.
Everyone was always to blame:
the last empty fifth of booze,
the rusty nails and chicken feathers
that stuck in the mud on the back doorstep,
the worms that lived under the cat's ear
and the thin-lipped preacher
who refused to call
except once on a flea-ridden day
when he came scuffing in through the yard
looking for a scapegoat.
I hid in the kitchen under the ragbag.
I refuse to remember the dead.
And the dead are bored with the whole thing.
But you — you go ahead,
go on, go on back down
into the graveyard,
lie down where you think their faces are;
talk back to your old bad dreams.
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Comments
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Veeeery Nice
'Take your foot out of the graveyard,
they are busy being dead.'
the poem is deep and full of beauty...beauty of pain -
This makes good sense
From guest John-Peter Creighton, a.k.a. cafégroundzero (contact)
Elegies are a poetical or lyrical by-product of the old Christian tradition of honouring the souls of the dead. Here we might guess that Anne Sexton is rebelling against the idea of exalting the memories of the dead. I'm just getting acquainted with Anne Sexton. I look forward to reading more of her work. -
Well she's obviously fat up... This is a emtional filled piece. From reading I see that is something she's not afraid o do... speak her mind...
~CWM~
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