Sylvia Plath's And Adrienne Rich's Poetry, From A man's POV

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

("Sexist" meanderings in rebuttal of a large damnation of the heterosexual man in America)


Like the Hindenburg you float
about my psyche, waiting for saint Elmo
to ignite your hydrogen temper.
"Oh my God! I can't believe it! Oh my God!
She's Burning...They're fallinq from the sky."

Oh, Mother Earth your teat was sweet,
and filled for just a year.
Then quickly sagged as I filled up,
taking away the nourishments of love
you spat about in faerie tales.

She dog, she dog. You
loathsome Delilah, snipping at my hair.
Sphinx-like smugness in your rigor.
Morte, morte, morte.
You bleed me cause you do.

You know you hold your candles well,
you're brass to wax and string
which burns brightly
if not briefly. But you know there's other candles.
You make them all yourself.

I am pliable like beeswax,
inspired by a queen,
to stand and show red hourglass
waiting yet to mate...
devoured when the act is done.

Down, down, down,
the wilted carcass slips,
to lie among the wreckage,
to die among the wreckage,
as mantis-like, you prey for more

Holding scissors, lower still.
Teasing in your voice, making up
for when the boys tied June bugs
to the strings of springtimes past.
"Vasectomy is vengeance, Dear, hold your breath
Don't scream."

You genetic Judas goat of silk-
lined wetness to entice,
your pheromone scent and lotus petals...
You're Medea with a knife.
And I'm drawn like a fly to sugared glue

To land and eat a final meal
of sugared glue.
Of sugared glue.
You are Hitler,
I am Jew.
Without Judea.



Oh, but you still blow me
away. Though I've mandrake root and
belladonna, your witchcraft still gets through
like winter wind, it catches up my pant-leg.
Chilling to the bone.

You stand about, a loaded gun,
with a chambered bullet, me.
waiting to discharge that load,
into my heart goes me. Powered
by your powder. Your rouge, your oils, your cream,

You say that I'm a vampire,
feeding on your blood. But blood is bait,
and bait is blood, waiting to congeal
and crust...over the festering sore
you see as me.

Go see a doctor! Get it fixed!
your plumbing's all fucked up!
I'm not your tool, I'm still my own.
I won't share my guilt with you.
You're the Hindenburg of guilt and you think it's just gas.


End

[Name removed]

1. Deleted sub-thread

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[NVMojo]

2. yeah, buddy!

[pitohui]

3. what's with all the poetry posts lately? shouldn't they be lounge?

altho i will admit, even tho i'm a woman, i've always been a bit uncomfortable w. "daddy" the famous (infamous?) sylvia plath poem, i mean, come on, it was godwin's law before we had godwin's law

she was just ill, take it as reportage of a point of view of a severely depressed and disturbed person, not as a critique on straight guys

probably a bit easier for me to take it that way, not being a guy of course!

anyhoo here's a bump altho i still think we need to move some of these poetry posts, they are interesting, they are just not "GD" type of thing, if music is "entertainment" so is poetry

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

5. Actually, this was coupled with Rich's "diving Into The Wreckage"

Which when read right after Sylvia's (Whom I love) Daddy, might make a man feel like an evolutionary mistake ( :) ).

I admit, I went overboard tonight and promise not to post any more tonight!

[pitohui]

6. okay, thanks for the clue train, i needed it sadly!

i'm not v. up to date on poetry -- the structure/context told me you had a rich poem in there but i'm quite dated and don't have any knowledge of her work so wouldn't have ever known which one if you didn't tell

the title of the rich poem is vaguely familiar but clearly it did not strike me well enough to be retained :-( it's pathetic, i just KNOW she was big w. MS magazine for a zillion years and i read and re-read every issue back in the day but rich's poems went in one ear and out the other it seems

post all you like, i'm just teasing you a little, i actually think this is one of your strongest poems that i've seen -- and if nothing else, i'm getting a little more knowledge of literature, i'm largely self taught in that area

[TomInTib]

7. Ease up.. it ain't that big a thing

Why not let poetry run around GD?

It won't (and I can assure you) kill any of us.

[pitohui]

8. i'm just teasing a little bit

there is an ancient mammalian drive to pick nits, many of you have evolved beyond it, but not pitohui no way not yet no how :-)

[TomInTib]

9. I am standing on the corner with you

rock on, man.

(I am just making it up as I go along).

Tom

[QuestionAll...]

11. 911 killed some of us, and it's relegated to a dungeon.

altho I do appreciate Tom's wine induced meanderings, it really doesn't belong here. Where, I dunno. Lounge seems about right.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

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[QuestionAll...]

16. spoken like you think you can order anyone around.

no, sir, no. I won't come back later unless I choose too.

[TomInTib]

25. 'to', not 'too'....

big difference

[pitohui]

14. whoo hoo i've got one! (forgive me in advance, question all)

dungeon (after marcel duchamp)

911 killed some of us

it's relegated to a dungeon

altho I do appreciate Tom's wine induced meanderings

it really doesn't belong here

where, I dunno

lounge

lounge seems about right

[QuestionAll...]

17. Tom = Dude Descending a Staircase

after a good lil boot...

now That's DuChamp!

[TomInTib]

19. Am I in some kind of trouble?

Or am I just tumbling down the stairs...

Head over Heels?

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

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[Tom Yossarian Joad]

23. That's cold, unecessary and totally against DU rules.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

22. I assure you, I descend all staircases fully clothed...

I'm surprised you would know anything of a FRENCH artist...

Now, tell us about The King and The Queen without Google?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

18. Well done! I'm with the New Yorker and we'll pay $3K for the rights to it

Just Kidding!

[pitohui]

24. that's okay

i don't expect to be recognized in my lifetime!

:-)

[me b zola]

4. Herr doktor!

Herr God, Herr Lucifer
Beware
Beware

Out of the ash
I rise with my red hair
And I eat men like air.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

10. Is that you, my ex-wife?

[TomInTib]

12. I had a great-aunt who smoked chocolate cigarettes with

Edith Piaff.

They are, now, both Dead...

Now..

And I do not miss Edith

But I do miss my Aunt Nell.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

15. Cool!

[jobycom]

20. I named one of my daughters after Adrienne Rich

Well, it was one factor in choosing the name.

Sort of a Rod McKuen-esque counter to your post, eh? :)

[pinto]

26. Locking.

Flamefest.