_http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem1945.htm_ (http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem1945.htm) I've sent this to my 11 yr. old daughter, who is a cat-lover to end all cat-lovers. If she gets wind of what's happening in Wisconsin I'll never see her again.... Julie Kruegerl ========Original Message======== Subj: [lit-ideas] Re: Tenth Psalm Date: 4/13/05 12:00:23 A.M. Central Daylight Time From: _robert.paul@xxxxxxxxx (mailto:robert.paul@xxxxxxxx) To: _lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) Sent on: JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx wrote: > "TENTH PSALM > > Anne Sexton > > > For as the baby springs out like a starfish into her million light > years Anne sees that she must climb her own mountain. > > For as she eats wisdom like the halves of a pear she puts one > foot in front of the other. She climbs the dark wing. > > For as her child grows Anne grows and there is salt and > cantaloupe and molasses for all. > > For as Anne walks, the music walks and the family lies down > in milk. > > For I am not locked up. > > For I am placing fist over fist on rock and plunging into the > altitude of words. The silence of words. > > For the husband sells his rain to God and God is well pleased > with His family. > > For they fling together against hardness and somewhere, in > another room, a light is clicked on by gentle fingers. > > For death comes to friends, to parents, to sisters. Death comes > with its bagful of pain yet they do not curse the key they were > given to hold. > > For they open each door and it gives them a new day at the > yellow window. > > For the child grows to a woman, her breasts coming up like > the moon while Anne rubs the peace stone. > > For the child starts up her own mountain (not being locked in) > and reaches the coastline of grapes. > > For Anne and her daughter master the mountain and again > and again. Then the child finds a man who opens like the sea. > > For that daughter must build her own city and fill it with her > own oranges, her own words. > > For Anne walked up and up and finally over the years until > she was old as the moon and with its naggy voice. > > For Anne had climbed over eight mountains and saw the children > washing the tiny statues in the square. > > For Anne sat down with the blood of a hammer and built a > tombstone for herself and Christopher sat beside her and was > well pleased with their red shadow." ------------------------------------ It reminds me of Christopher Smart's reflections on his cat, Jeoffrey, a section from a long poem written in the 18th C in a mental institution, in which each line, as here, begins with 'Forâ?¦' http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem1945.html I hadn't known of Sexton's poem before now. Thanks. Robert Paul Reed College ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html