Wallflower-
July 5, 2023The Moss Of His Skin
July 5, 2023The Starry Night
That does not keep me from having a terrible need of — shall I say the word — religion. Then I go out at night to paint the stars.
— Vincent Van Gogh in a letter to his brother
The town does not exist
except where one black-haired tree slips
up like a drowned woman into the hot sky.
The town is silent. The night boils with eleven stars.
Oh starry night! This is how
I want to die.
It moves. They are all alive.
Even the moon bulges in its orange irons
to push children, like a god, from its eye.
The old unseen serpent swallows up the stars.
Oh starry starry night! This is how
I want to die:
into that rushing beast of the night,
sucked up by that great dragon, to split
from my life with no flag,
no belly,
no cry.
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.