Anne Sexton reads "The Truth The Dead Know"

[everythingstakensux]

bouquette, or whatever your name is...i was ill informed and you are right. i was unaware linda had published anything. but i will stand by the diane piggybacking on sylvia and anne. i was being bitchy when i posted last. and yes...everyone is entitled to their own opinion. just a blow to discover one of your literary idols as being capable of such deviant behavior.

[everythingstakensux]

@everythingstakensux oh yeah and i should add though ANNE WAS sexually abused. she had the material, the memories in her mind her whole life to draw off of. that being said, i bid adieu. appreciate art for what it is. you do not have to like or agree with someone to like their craftsmanship.

[everythingstakensux]

you guys need to chill out. the only thing relating anne as a "sexual predator" is a snippet from a book written by a woman who made her career off of tragic women in history. anne died in the 70's, her kids don't talk about it nor do they want the spotlight...everyone has demons, no i am not saying child abuse is ok....blah blah blah...i came here to hear her voice & i see all this bs GET OVER IT. we are dealing with a context of literature not having a lynch mob over a dead woman's alleged sin

[bourquette1]

@everythingstakensux Your post "a woman who made her career off of tragic women in history" = Anne's biographer, Diane Middlebrook. I refer to the book written by Anne's daughter, Linda, who provides the specifics of her sexual abuse. Not sure where you've gotten the information that "her kids don't talk about it nor do they want the spotlight". If that were true Linda would not have written/ published a book revealing it. Anyone can express there opinion here so, as you say, GET OVER IT!

[TerrySleeper]

Sexton's stuff goes right over my head - right over.

I just don't get what she's on about.

[bourquette1]

What a narcissistic exhibitionist. Read "Searching For Mercy Street - My Journey Back to My Mother, Anne Sexton" by her daughter Linda Gray Sexton. It is particularly repulsive to read about Anne stimulating her daughter Linda's privates, openly masturbating in front of her or grinding her naked genitals up against Linda's pre-teen, naked backside while in bed with her. How lovely. Yes, she was bi-polar and an alcoholic but she was also extraordinarily manipulative and a child molester.

[DrewArriola]

@bourquette1 shocking and truly heartbreaking.

[bourquette1]

@DrewArriola Heartbreaking for all concerned, I agree. Her oldest daughter (the only one she abused) suffered sheer hell until the day her mother died. By what she states in the book, they (she, her sister and father) were actually "relieved" when Anne died. She had made 9 previous suicide attempts. And while "living" (if you want to call it that) she ruthlessly & willfully violated any sense of propriety or privacy her daughter tried to develop for herself. Major, major damage. So sad.

[molloyxx1]

@bourquette1 Fassbinder was a monster, Picasso was the same, Mailer was something of a thug, T S Eliot was a sterile, callous prick, Roth has been vilified by at least one ex-wife......yet reamains our greatest novelsit. To complain that an artist is an exhibitionist is insipid as every artist stives to exhibit their work. Your highly detailed description of Sexton's transgressions are more than a little suspicious in themselves.

[bourquette1]

@molloyxx1 Whatever! Just quoting directly from the book her own daughter wrote about her. Sorry if it rattled your cage ;)

[kuztoml65]

@molloyxx1 monster, thug, sterile prick and being vilified are nothing compared to an incestious child molester. I bet you wouldnt be defending her so proudly if she was a famous MALE poet that was molesting his daughter. Hypocritical, double standard, uninformed feminist bullshit is the stench im getting from you. :)

[Pixielly]

@bourquette1 thanks for ruining everything dude.

[bourquette1]

@Pixielly Whatever.

[louislamanna]

@bourquette1 I'd take a narcissistic exhibitionist over a self-righteous internet commentator any day. Anne Sexton strove to give the most intimate type of motherly love to her daughter that she could; that's more than anyone who reads this comment can say for you.

[bourquette1]

@louislamanna Whatever!

[doctornoooo]

what most call their poems are not even good prose, well, she does not belong to

that group, and even better, the good poet, like she, can actually read it a good voice, crisp as chilly autumn Boston breeze just before the snows start, nice to hear one of the few who can do a decent job speaking the words they own. Most make you shudder, including T.S. Eliot and Frost. I suspect there was more than a touch of actress in Anne. Betcha she had hit the boards more than once.

[KARENK72886]

RIP Anne! Thank you!

[AntiqueThings]

"I am tired of being brave" is probably one of the most poignant and painful lines ever written.

[perennialtears]

she lived in my house.

and I'm doing a project on her now--just analyzed her poem "Young Girl." I love the last two lines of it.

[TunesandTones1]

very nice

[isarte2007]

I like that ending 'live now, live now' because some people wait before they act or are not living as fully as they should and by the time death comes, it's too late!

[CollinKelleyPoetry]

How amazing to have an "alternate version" of one of Sexton's greatest poems. This was obviously recorded prior to 1962 and the publication of All My Pretty Ones. If anyone has information about the recording, please post it.

[spd13062]

"live now"............

[MelissyChristine]

Gosh I love her :)

[SailorBliss]

Beautiful! Thank you.

@Tubette1312; a case in which ignorance, truly, is bliss. Lucky, fortunate you! Perhaps you will recieve the additional gift of compassion someday.

[sourissourissouris]

AMAZING! Thanks for sharing! <3

[MiyukiRini]

like poetry? search miyukirini on youtube

[MrHeslopian]

How I adore dear Anne Sexton... Such a shame she killed herself before she could share more of her breathtaking confessional poetry...

[sergiovonlee]

does anyone know the history behind this different version of the poem? and why/how/when it is recorded here?

[SvevaForever]

A great poem read by the poet herself, Anne Sexton...enjoy!

[SvevaForever]

anne, I love you. u are woman fantastic

[Leonmitch]

Just Beautifulxxxxxxxxxxx

[melissais]

i did a project on Anne Sexton also...ever since i gained so much respect for her.

shes such a good poet..

i wish i was still working on that project..shes so interesting.

i love anne sexton!

:D

[melissais]

i love anne sexton

is that really her reading?

[dowling1981]

It is being read by Luke Billingsworth, ken?

[moronicisus]

I lover her poetry...even more so now that I'm doing a research proj. about her work. If anyone can tell me more about her life, her most famous works and confesional poetry....please feel free to respond...

[Bittlin88]

This reading is not the version that is most anthologized. The version of "The Truth the Dead Know" that I have read has a different ending stanza. It goes like this:

And what of the dead? They lie without shoes

in their stone boats. They are more like stone

than the sea would be if it stopped. They refuse

to be blessed, throat, eye and knucklebone.

[AmyRoseXOXOXO]

It's easy to judge when you haven't walked in someone elses shoes isn't it.

[iwishiwasacookie]

As someone who has been suicidal in the past, I find it selfish that you would post such a comment. The mentally ill do not use logic to justify their actions. It is a need to die. Listen to Anne Sexton's "Wanting to Die" or read it. Maybe you will better understand.

[Erik47474]

Thank you so much for sharing this.

I will be buying her poetry. Her fierce beauty in words is achingly sharp and yet inspiring.

[mjjohn314]

wow I didn't know that's why she wrote that poem she's my favorite poet

[missremorse]

how still we all become. Thank you for posting this, it's wonderful

[tashikiloo2]

I have to listen to this every now and then... just to remind me- 'live now, live now'...

[redmark2007]

She was for years a forbidden name to speak of in our family...it was hard on everyone when she "checked out"...no surprise though, she seemed irrevocably destined for such an end. My father's 2nd cousin's wife...

[Leonmitch]

She painful beauty xxxxxxxxxxxx

[NoSurprisesPlease]

My all-time favourite poet...

Live now..

Beautiful...

[nycanthro]

'For through their *tiny* smiles they mutter:

'Live now. Live Now'"

I've seen those smiles and keep forgetting -- until the next person dies; reminding me of precious, fleeting, ephemeral Life. Of its everpresence and unknowable conclusion.

[nyxie23]

I have most of her poetry memorized by heart. I've never heard this version before... It's slightly different.

[rpVerlaine]

THANKS FOR POSTING

THE BEST

RP

[flowerchildA]

Really moving....yes the little smile of the dead is saying....live now, live now...