The Oven
___________________
The Oven
The Moat
Dyke Mademoiselle
______________________
The Oven
“eyes epileptic,
screaming her curse”
—Ted Hughes
“The Difference”
Howls & Whispers
_____________
When Sylvia collapsed—
Screaming on the floor
Of the cold kitchen
Thrashing around—
On the linoleum and
Screaming her curses
_______________
That’s when I knew—
I was out of my depth
She needed a doctor
Exhausted, wretched—
Sylvia tore off her dress
Threw her ring at me
____________
I realized then what—
All knotted lovers know
Of Pompeii’s ashes
I was drunk—
I grabbed her hair
Choked her to death
____________
Sobbing, suddenly—
Stunned by what
I’d done in rage
Blaming myself—
It was like after a
Sudden car crash
______________
So I dragged her—
And stuffed her pretty
Head in the oven
It was either her—
Or me by the skin
Of my teeth survival
____________________
She was a stranger—
Bug-eyed and blue
I got rid of her forever
I turned on the gas—
Stuck her even further
Back into hell’s oven
___________________
I put wet towels—
Along the door cracks
So the kids wouldn’t die
I used my key to lock—
The door and make it
Look like a Suicide
_____________________
I skulked out of—
Yeats' dingy flat on
Fitzroy Road
And didn’t look back—
Assia & I had a party
Upstairs afterwards
________________
I avoided a divorce—
Kept my career on track
Ended up poet laureate
That’s the difference—
Between you & me
I was a wife killer
The Moat
_______________
“Ennobled by
the Laureateship”
—John Moat,
The Founding of Arvon:
A Memoir of the Early Years
of the Arvon Foundation
________________
Ennobled by the lame—
Laureateship and the
Queen’s sycophantic
Royal Order of Merit
Ted Hughes forces—
Sylvia’s public personality
To devolve while his own
Reputation is glorified
_______________
The Drawbridge of Britain’s—
Overseeing image intelligences
And Protectors of the Realm
Is drawn up defensively
The Moat gets deeper—
As Ted’s constant fear of
Exposure grows increasingly
From moment to moment
_________________
As Olwyn Hughes battles—
Anne Stevenson over the
“Bitter Fame” debacle, Ted
Sinks into fearful revisionism
Elitism takes over his muse—
“Capriccio” at $4000 a copy
Intended for only the few
Keenest & richest Collectors
_______________
As the Hughes Estate—
Increasingly takes the Feminist
Backlash seriously, Olwyn and
Company deepen the Moat
A third of Plath’s poems—
Are withheld by Hughes
Like “The Rabbit Catcher”
About Ted’s S/M tendencies
______________
Robin Morgan’s “Monster”—
With its chilling, vilifying poem
“Arraignment” becomes the
Women’s Movement Anthem
Attacking the Patriarchal—
Literary Establishment and
Implying the Suicide was
Actually cold-blooded Murder
________________
Thirty thousand copies—
Of a hardcover book of poems
Was unheard of back then
Readings draw hundreds
The poem “Arraignment”—
Blames Hughes’ womanizing
And abandonment of Sylvia
For setting up her suicide
________________
Others saying it was murder—
With the Hughes Estate doing
Everything it could to control
Errant publishers and poets
“Ariel” a terrifying work—
Had enough energy to light
A city block for ten years
And still buzzes the Muses
_______________
“Daddy” recited on BBC—
Exploding the male myth of
Patriarchal Erect Penishood
As Nothing but a Sham
If ever Apocalyptic poetry—
Epitomizes revolutionary power
And experience, then Plath
Should’ve been Poet Laureate
Dyke Mademoiselle
“Viciousness in the kitchen!”
—Sylvia Plath, “Lesbos”
__________________________
“Ariel” the dyke angel—
“Arraignment” the dyke ideal
British Lit Crit scandalized by
The dyke American Mademoiselle!
Sad hags shook their heads—
Sick of the Every Woman’s a
Whore propaganda routine
New Yorker dykettes!
____________________
After Plath the cute décor—
Of str8t sweetheart and coy
Kunt kleptomaniac chick lit
Ditched for the Lie it was
Gay & women poets began—
Spewing back the same old
Ball & chain bullshit for the
Male nonsense that it was
__________________
Up to their necks with—
The silent hate that dared
Not speak its name, c’mon
Girls pack your suitcases!
Some ditched their doggy—
No good impotent husbands
Others ditched the stink of
Baby crap shitty diapers
_______________________
Others got doped up on—
Their sleeping pills sinking
Into the smog of hell and
Became venomous orphans
Others did Hollywood—
Died in the Valley of Dolls
Norma Desmonds doing their
Gigolos on Sunset Boulevard
____________________
Some wore tiger pants—
And had Miami affairs with
Cute Cuban kept boys and
Cornwall cute hustlers
Sylvia Plath at Cambridge—
Enamored initially with some
Hunky Mytholmroyd meat
Hot for Yorkshire dick-love
_________________________
But the bastard cheated her—
Smelled and stunk like a dumb
Brute ignorant bloody Butcher
A psychopathological Prick—
Mexborough migraine Monster
Gaunt Crow of British Twilight
___________________
The Oven
The Moat
Dyke Mademoiselle
______________________
The Oven
“eyes epileptic,
screaming her curse”
—Ted Hughes
“The Difference”
Howls & Whispers
_____________
When Sylvia collapsed—
Screaming on the floor
Of the cold kitchen
Thrashing around—
On the linoleum and
Screaming her curses
_______________
That’s when I knew—
I was out of my depth
She needed a doctor
Exhausted, wretched—
Sylvia tore off her dress
Threw her ring at me
____________
I realized then what—
All knotted lovers know
Of Pompeii’s ashes
I was drunk—
I grabbed her hair
Choked her to death
____________
Sobbing, suddenly—
Stunned by what
I’d done in rage
Blaming myself—
It was like after a
Sudden car crash
______________
So I dragged her—
And stuffed her pretty
Head in the oven
It was either her—
Or me by the skin
Of my teeth survival
____________________
She was a stranger—
Bug-eyed and blue
I got rid of her forever
I turned on the gas—
Stuck her even further
Back into hell’s oven
___________________
I put wet towels—
Along the door cracks
So the kids wouldn’t die
I used my key to lock—
The door and make it
Look like a Suicide
_____________________
I skulked out of—
Yeats' dingy flat on
Fitzroy Road
And didn’t look back—
Assia & I had a party
Upstairs afterwards
________________
I avoided a divorce—
Kept my career on track
Ended up poet laureate
That’s the difference—
Between you & me
I was a wife killer
The Moat
_______________
“Ennobled by
the Laureateship”
—John Moat,
The Founding of Arvon:
A Memoir of the Early Years
of the Arvon Foundation
________________
Ennobled by the lame—
Laureateship and the
Queen’s sycophantic
Royal Order of Merit
Ted Hughes forces—
Sylvia’s public personality
To devolve while his own
Reputation is glorified
_______________
The Drawbridge of Britain’s—
Overseeing image intelligences
And Protectors of the Realm
Is drawn up defensively
The Moat gets deeper—
As Ted’s constant fear of
Exposure grows increasingly
From moment to moment
_________________
As Olwyn Hughes battles—
Anne Stevenson over the
“Bitter Fame” debacle, Ted
Sinks into fearful revisionism
Elitism takes over his muse—
“Capriccio” at $4000 a copy
Intended for only the few
Keenest & richest Collectors
_______________
As the Hughes Estate—
Increasingly takes the Feminist
Backlash seriously, Olwyn and
Company deepen the Moat
A third of Plath’s poems—
Are withheld by Hughes
Like “The Rabbit Catcher”
About Ted’s S/M tendencies
______________
Robin Morgan’s “Monster”—
With its chilling, vilifying poem
“Arraignment” becomes the
Women’s Movement Anthem
Attacking the Patriarchal—
Literary Establishment and
Implying the Suicide was
Actually cold-blooded Murder
________________
Thirty thousand copies—
Of a hardcover book of poems
Was unheard of back then
Readings draw hundreds
The poem “Arraignment”—
Blames Hughes’ womanizing
And abandonment of Sylvia
For setting up her suicide
________________
Others saying it was murder—
With the Hughes Estate doing
Everything it could to control
Errant publishers and poets
“Ariel” a terrifying work—
Had enough energy to light
A city block for ten years
And still buzzes the Muses
_______________
“Daddy” recited on BBC—
Exploding the male myth of
Patriarchal Erect Penishood
As Nothing but a Sham
If ever Apocalyptic poetry—
Epitomizes revolutionary power
And experience, then Plath
Should’ve been Poet Laureate
Dyke Mademoiselle
“Viciousness in the kitchen!”
—Sylvia Plath, “Lesbos”
__________________________
“Ariel” the dyke angel—
“Arraignment” the dyke ideal
British Lit Crit scandalized by
The dyke American Mademoiselle!
Sad hags shook their heads—
Sick of the Every Woman’s a
Whore propaganda routine
New Yorker dykettes!
____________________
After Plath the cute décor—
Of str8t sweetheart and coy
Kunt kleptomaniac chick lit
Ditched for the Lie it was
Gay & women poets began—
Spewing back the same old
Ball & chain bullshit for the
Male nonsense that it was
__________________
Up to their necks with—
The silent hate that dared
Not speak its name, c’mon
Girls pack your suitcases!
Some ditched their doggy—
No good impotent husbands
Others ditched the stink of
Baby crap shitty diapers
_______________________
Others got doped up on—
Their sleeping pills sinking
Into the smog of hell and
Became venomous orphans
Others did Hollywood—
Died in the Valley of Dolls
Norma Desmonds doing their
Gigolos on Sunset Boulevard
____________________
Some wore tiger pants—
And had Miami affairs with
Cute Cuban kept boys and
Cornwall cute hustlers
Sylvia Plath at Cambridge—
Enamored initially with some
Hunky Mytholmroyd meat
Hot for Yorkshire dick-love
_________________________
But the bastard cheated her—
Smelled and stunk like a dumb
Brute ignorant bloody Butcher
A psychopathological Prick—
Mexborough migraine Monster
Gaunt Crow of British Twilight
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