Elegy In The Classroom
July 5, 2023Baby Picture
July 5, 2023Despair
Who is he?
A railroad track toward hell?
Breaking like a stick of furniture?
The hope that suddenly overflows the cesspool?
The love that goes down the drain like spit?
The love that said forever, forever
and then runs you over like a truck?
Are you a prayer that floats into a radio advertisement?
Despair,
I don’t like you very well.
You don’t suit my clothes or my cigarettes.
Why do you locate here
as large as a tank,
aiming at one half of a lifetime?
Couldn’t you just go float into a tree
instead of locating here at my roots,
forcing me out of the life I’ve led
when it’s been my belly so long?
All right!
I’ll take you along on the trip
where for so many years
my arms have been speechless
Anne Sexton
Anne Sexton (1928-1974) was an American poet and playwright. She was a leading figure of the Confessional poetry movement and is best known for her works that explore themes of mental illness, death, and sexuality. Some of her notable works include "To Bedlam and Part Way Back" (1960) and "Live or Die" (1966), which won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.