The Complete Poems Anne Sexton

650 Pages·2007·5.61 MB·English

The Complete Poems
Anne Sexton
WITH A FOREWORD BY
Maxine Kumin
Houghton Mifflin Company Boston

Contents
A Note on the Text v
How It Was: Maxine Kumin on Anne Sexton xix
To BEDLAM AND PART WAY BACK (i960)
1
You, Doctor Martin 3
Kind Sir: These Woods 4
Torn Down from Glory Daily 5
Music Swims Back to Me 6
The Bells 7
Elizabeth Gone 8
Some Foreign Letters 9
The Kite 11
Said the Poet to the Analyst 12
Venus and the Ark 13
Her Kind 15
The Exorcists 16
Where I Live in This Honorable House of the Laurel Tree 17
Portrait of an Old Woman on the College Tavern Wall 18
The Farmer's Wife 19
Funnel 20
The Expatriates 21
vii
For Johnny Pole on the Forgotten Beach 22
Unknown Girl in the Maternity Ward 24
What's That 25
The Moss of His Skin 26
Hutch 27
Noon Walk on the Asylum Lawn 27
Ringing the Bells 28
Lullaby 29
The Lost Ingredient 30
The Road Back 30
The Waiting Head 31
Elegy in the Classroom 32
A Story for Rose on the Midnight Flight to Boston 32
11
For John, Who Begs Me Not to Enquire Further 34
The Double Image 35
The Division of Parts 42
ALL MY PRETTY ONES (1962)
1
The Truth the Dead Know 49
All My Pretty Ones 49
Young 51
Lament 52
To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph 53
The Starry Night 53
Old Dwarf Heart 54
I Remember 55
The Operation 56
11
A Curse Against Elegies 60
The Abortion 61
With Mercy for the Greedy 62
For God While Sleeping 63
In the Deep Museum 64
Ghosts 65
Vlll
Ill
The Fortress 66
IV
Old 69
The Hangman 69
Woman with Girdle 70
The House 71
Water 75
Wallflower 76
Housewife 77
Doors, Doors, Doors 78
v
Letter Written on a Ferry While Crossing Long Island Sound 81
From the Garden 84
Love Song for K. Owyne 85
Flight 86
For Eleanor Boylan Talking with God 87
The Black Art 88
Letter Written During a January Northeaster 89
LIVE OR DIE (1966)
Author's Note 94
And One for My Dame 95
The Sun 96
Flee on Your Donkey 97
Three Green Windows 105
Somewhere in Africa 106
Imitations of Drowning 107
Mother and Jack and the Rain 109
Consorting with Angels 111
The Legend of the One-eyed Man 112
Love Song 115
Man and Wife 116
Those Times ... 118
Two Sons 121
ix
To Lose the Earth 123
Sylvia's Death 126
Protestant Easter 128
For the Year of the Insane 131
Crossing the Atlantic 133
Walking in Paris 135
Menstruation at Forty 137
Christmas Eve 139
KE 6-8018 140
Wanting to Die 142
The Wedding Night 144
Little Girl, My String Bean, My Lovely Woman 145
A Little Uncomplicated Hymn 148
Your Face on the Dog's Neck 152
Self in 1958 155
Suicide Note 156
In the Beach House 159
Cripples and Other Stories 160
Pain for a Daughter 163
The Addict 165
Live 167
LOVE POEMS (1969)
The Touch 173
The Kiss 174
The Breast 175
The Interrogation of the Man of Many Hearts 176
That Day 180
In Celebration of My Uterus 181
The Nude Swim 183
Song for a Red Nightgown 184
Loving the Killer 185
For My Lover, Returning to His Wife 188
The Break 190
It Is a Spring Afternoon 193
Just Once 194
Again and Again and Again 195
You All Know the Story of the Other Woman 196
x
Moon Song, Woman Song 196
The Ballad of the Lonely Masturbator 198
Barefoot 199
The Papa and Mama Dance 200
Now 201
Us 202
Mr. Mine 204
Song for a Lady 204
Knee Song 205
Eighteen Days Without You 205
TRANSFORMATIONS (1971)
The Gold Key 223
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 224
The White Snake 229
Rumpelstiltskin 233
The Little Peasant 237
Godfather Death 242
Rapunzel 244
Iron Hans 249
Cinderella 255
One-Eye, Two-Eyes, Three-Eyes 258
The Wonderful Musician 264
Red Riding Hood 267
The Maiden Without Hands 273
The Twelve Dancing Princesses 276
The Frog Prince 281
Hansel and Gretel 286
Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty) 290
THE BOOK OF FOLLY (1972)
I. THIRTY POEMS
The Ambition Bird 299
The Doctor of the Heart 301
Oh 302
Sweeney 304
xi
Mother and Daughter 305
The Wifebeater 307
The Firebombers 308
The One-Legged Man 308
The Assassin 310
Going Gone 311
Anna Who Was Mad 312
The Hex 313
Dreaming the Breasts 314
The Red Shoes 315
The Other 317
The Silence 318
The Hoarder 319
Killing the Spring 320
The Death of the Fathers 322
1. Oysters 322
2. How We Danced 323
3. The Boat 324
4. Santa 325
5. Friends 327
6. Begat 329
Angels of the Love Affair 332
1. Angel of Fire and Genitals 332
2. Angel of Clean Sheets 333
3. Angel of Flight and Sleigh Bells 333
4. Angel of Hope and Calendars 334
5. Angel of Blizzards and Blackouts 335
6. Angel of Beach Houses and Picnics 335
II. THE JESUS PAPERS
Jesus Suckles 337
Jesus Awake 338
Jesus Asleep 338
Jesus Raises Up the Harlot 339
Jesus Cooks 340
Jesus Summons Forth 341
Jesus Dies 342
Jesus Unborn 343
The Author of the Jesus Papers Speaks 344
xu
THE DEATH NOTEBOOKS (1974)
Gods 349
Making a Living 350
For Mr. Death Who Stands with His Door Open 351
Faustus and I 353
The Death Baby 354
1. Dreams 354
2. The Dy-dee Doll 355
3. Seven Times 356
4. Madonna 356
5. Max 357
6. Baby 357
Rats Live on No Evil Star 359
Grandfather, Your Wound 361
Baby Picture 362
The Furies 363
The Fury of Beautiful Bones 363
The Fury of Hating Eyes 364
The Fury of Guitars and Sopranos 365
The Fury of Earth 366
The Fury of Jewels and Coal 367
The Fury of Cooks 367
The Fury of Cocks 369
The Fury of Abandonment 370
The Fury of Overshoes 371
The Fury of Rain Storms 372
The Fury of Flowers and Worms 373
The Fury of God's Good-bye 374
The Fury of Sundays 375
The Fury of Sunsets 376
The Fury of Sunrises 377
Praying on a 707 378
Clothes 380
Mary's Song 381
God's Backside 382
Jesus Walking 383
Hurry Up Please It's Time 384
xiii
O Ye Tongues 396
First Psalm 396
Second Psalm 398
Third Psalm 399
Fourth Psalm 401
Fifth Psalm 403
Sixth Psalm 405
Seventh Psalm 406
Eighth Psalm 408
Ninth Psalm 409
Tenth Psalm 411
THE AWFUL ROWING TOWARD GOD (1975)
Rowing 417
The Civil War 418
The Children 419
Two Hands 421
The Room of My Life 422
The Witch's Life 423
The Earth Falls Down 424
Courage 425
Riding the Elevator into the Sky 426
When Man Enters Woman 428
The Fish That Walked 428
The Fallen Angels 430
The Earth 431
After Auschwitz 432
The Poet of Ignorance 433
The Sermon of the Twelve Acknowledgments 435
The Evil Eye 437
The Dead Heart 439
The Play 440
The Sickness Unto Death 441
Locked Doors 442
The Evil Seekers 443
The Wall 445
Is It True? 446
Welcome Morning 455
Jesus, the Actor, Plays the Holy Ghost 456
xiv