{"id":405,"date":"2013-10-07T23:23:07","date_gmt":"2013-10-08T03:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/?p=405"},"modified":"2013-10-07T23:23:07","modified_gmt":"2013-10-08T03:23:07","slug":"wanting-to-die-anne-sexton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/?p=405","title":{"rendered":"Wanting to Die &#8211; Anne Sexton"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UM6nWRXCQD8\" height=\"315\" width=\"420\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>(source:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2013\/02\/anne_sexton_confessional_poet_reads_wanting_to_die_in_ominous_1966_video.html\" target=\"_blank\">Open Culture<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Since you asked me most days I cannot remember<br \/>\nI walk in my clothing, unmarked by the voyage.<br \/>\nThen almost unnameable lust returns.<\/p>\n<p>Even then I have nothing against life.<br \/>\nI know well that grass blades you mentioned,<br \/>\nThe furniture you have placed under the sun.<\/p>\n<p>But Suicides have specail launguage.<br \/>\nLike carpenters they want to know which tools,<br \/>\nThey never ask why build.<\/p>\n<p>Twice I have so simply declared myself,<br \/>\nHave possession of the enmy, eaten the enmy,<br \/>\nHave taken on his craft, his music.<\/p>\n<p>In this way, hear thoughtful<br \/>\nWarmer than oil or water<br \/>\nI have rested, drooling at the mouthhole.<\/p>\n<p>I do not think of my body at needle point.<br \/>\nEven the cornea and leftover urine were gone.<br \/>\nSuicides have already betrayed the body.<\/p>\n<p>Still-born they don&#8217;t always die,<br \/>\nBut dazzled, they can&#8217;t forget a drug so sweet<br \/>\nThat even children would look on and smile.<\/p>\n<p>To Trust all that life under your tongue!<br \/>\nThat, all by itself, becomes a passion<br \/>\nDeath&#8217;s a sad bone; bruised, you&#8217;d say<\/p>\n<p>And yet after she waits for me. Year after Year.<br \/>\nTo so delicately undo an old wound,<br \/>\nTo empty my breath from its bad prison.<\/p>\n<p>Balanced there, suicides sometimes meet,<br \/>\nRaging at the fruit, a pumped up moon,<br \/>\nLeaving the bread they mistook for a kiss,<\/p>\n<p>Leaving the page of the book carelessly open<br \/>\nSomething unsaid, the phone off the hook<br \/>\nAnd the love, whatever it was, an infection.<\/p>\n<p>(1967)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(source:\u00a0Open Culture) Since you asked me most days I cannot remember I walk in my clothing, unmarked by the voyage. Then almost unnameable lust returns. Even then I have nothing against life. I know well that grass blades you mentioned, The furniture you have placed under the sun. But Suicides have specail launguage. Like carpenters [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,75],"tags":[86],"class_list":["post-405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-video","tag-anne-sexton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=405"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":407,"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405\/revisions\/407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}