Ladybird

David Randall Curtis, the heart of poetry on YouTube, visit his channel on:

http://www.youtube.com/user/DavidRandallCurtis

encouraged me (i.e. forced under threat of litigation) to read a biography of Anne Sexton by Diane Wood Middlebrook.

I am so glad I did!

Sexton's poetry was ground-breaking; so many poems and so much to admire, appreciate and yes, even come to love. That cannot be said of her life which was heart-breaking, and painful to read about.

Whilst reading the biography, this poem just came to me like a lump in the throat....


Ladybird.
(On reading a biography of Anne Sexton)

Bright light, more than a bit dotty
Black blood, black bones, black heart
A beetle harbouring evil
Hard and crusty
But ready to take flight,
Predator yourself,
Red not for attraction, but
To ward off predators
Whilst devouring the aphids
Beneath your polished shell.

A bugs life
And a covenant with death
Time will not wander there
Nor weed, nor rhyme
Nor worm-like insect
On the groping bine
Meaningless numbers of black sores
Nicotine stubbed or spat
Are gaudy like a black hat
Worn with bare feet,
Baring your tongue-in-cheek
But not your soul
No not that
Did you have a soul,
Or did you prey upon that
Too?

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[brychar66]

Sharp poem Lina, but skilful and euphonious. I don't know Anne Sexton at all and from your poem she seems to have had an unfortunate nature as well as an unfortunate name - more sexton beetle than ladybug :) Ladybirds I love, child that I am! The 'prey' as also 'pray' with reference to the soul is a smart move ;)

[PoetLina]

@brychar66 Oh, you are "sharp" too, did you also like red for read! Thank you so much for visiting and for your comment, Charles. :-)

[USERNAMEDSOBER]

Hello, are you trying to say Sexton is a beetle and smoked to much? I am also a poet and have been reading alot of Plath, Sexton, Wordsworth, Keats, and Shakespeare. What do you think of the poem mercy for the greedy? I like this poem alot and want to know what you think of the ending.Please respond, thank you.

[PoetLina]

I neither think Anne Sexton was a beetle nor that she smoked too much. The reference to a "bug" was purely allusory and the nicotine references were a device for expressing my view of how she tainted the lives of those who loved her most.

[PoetLina]

"With Mercy For The Greedy" conversely values friendship more than religion (but perhaps they are one and the same thing?). The last stanza is a brilliant piece of poetry. I think it is about her re-birth in discovering poetry and about the inspiration for and the nature of her poetry: "confessing".

[PoetLina]

Her definition of poetry - how she "feasts" greedily on it, how it gives her a voice and makes sense of her world. "The rat's star" was a favourite palindrome of hers. In it she consciously or not, sums herself up; a rat and a star, which ever way you look at it, at her. "WMFTG" is perhaps one of her best and most significant poems.

[PoetLina]

@ezseeker Thank you, it is I suppose better than my sons' chorus, "Get real, mum!"? :-)

[ezseeker]

You are a real poet.

Easy

[sonofwalt]

My pleasure. Glad I subscribed!

[AntaresInScorpius]

wow you are good, subscribed.