Sylvia Plath, Nine Female Figures 1950-1951

Witch’s Tongue

“The woman is perfected”

—Sylvia Plath, “Edge”

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The witch is perfected—

She’s dead to the world

She sits in her study—

Court Green is her home

Looking out the window—

The Bitch Goddess smiles

No more Greek necessity—

No more butch toga scrolls

Her fingers are saying—

What Druid priestesses know

You’ve come this far, dear—

But you’re not there yet

Each poet dies & is reborn—

Like a Snake shedding its skin

Listen to your forked tongue—

When it hisses, we speak…