deepundergroundpoetry.com
The Woods
Reading Anne Sexton in bed at 15
my brain grew a little bit bigger,
taking in the curious metaphors
and long expostulations of the self,
as damaged as that was.
Lost in the woods of my own bleak thoughts,
wandering from Turpin’s cave where dark
banditti plotted deaths,
to potted plants about a witch’s house,
I was not led to suicide.
I’d already seen my death,
in either an asylum or
an underpass somewhere.
The ‘70s girl was just a guide
to where I always was, and raised
in male ignorance, I needed one who’d cried,
whose note was wrought in verse.
my brain grew a little bit bigger,
taking in the curious metaphors
and long expostulations of the self,
as damaged as that was.
Lost in the woods of my own bleak thoughts,
wandering from Turpin’s cave where dark
banditti plotted deaths,
to potted plants about a witch’s house,
I was not led to suicide.
I’d already seen my death,
in either an asylum or
an underpass somewhere.
The ‘70s girl was just a guide
to where I always was, and raised
in male ignorance, I needed one who’d cried,
whose note was wrought in verse.
Published 10th Sep 2022
Author's Note
For World Suicide Prevention Day.
All writing remains the property of the author. Don't use it for any purpose without their permission.
likes 4
reading list entries 2
comments 3
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The author encourages honest critique.
10th Sep 2022 7:50pm
You could have thrown a mammoth blanket over all the teenagers in bed with women “of her kind” (metaphorically speaking of course) in the night. The internet seems to have quashed this intimacy. I blame Wikipedia!
This is tender, poignant and dripping in pathos. Also a fine eulogy to Sexton. All childhoods have a Turnip’s Cave, where imagination kicks against the mundane. Adolescence can be life-defining for some. The art is to reflect and move on.
“An asylum or underpass” is very Morrissey-esque. So bonus point ;) Closure has a feel of Curtis too. He would have been a Romantic poet in another age.
This is tender, poignant and dripping in pathos. Also a fine eulogy to Sexton. All childhoods have a Turnip’s Cave, where imagination kicks against the mundane. Adolescence can be life-defining for some. The art is to reflect and move on.
“An asylum or underpass” is very Morrissey-esque. So bonus point ;) Closure has a feel of Curtis too. He would have been a Romantic poet in another age.
11th Sep 2022 00:25am
know little of sexton, but lying in bed and feeling miserable whilst reading, I get ..
12th Sep 2022 9:21pm
