Things I read at 3AM : Sylvia Plath’s Poem to Her Unborn Child

Things I read at 3AM : Sylvia Plath’s Poem to Her Unborn Child

Photo Credit: The Glass Narrator

New life, the antithesis of the dodo…a baby rooted like a turnip but belly rising like a loaf of bread. Jumpy as a Mexican bean – aren’t they just? But best of all,  a travelled prawn.

Read it: liked it, re-read it: loved it.

 

You’re

 

By Sylvia Plath


Clownlike, happiest on your hands,
Feet to the stars, and moon-skulled,
Gilled like a fish. A common-sense
Thumbs-down on the dodo’s mode.
Wrapped up in yourself like a spool,
Trawling your dark as owls do.
Mute as a turnip from the Fourth
Of July to All Fools’ Day,
O high-riser, my little loaf.

Vague as fog and looked for like mail.
Farther off than Australia.
Bent-backed Atlas, our traveled prawn.
Snug as a bud and at home
Like a sprat in a pickle jug.
A creel of eels, all ripples.
Jumpy as a Mexican bean.
Right, like a well-done sum.
A clean slate, with your own face on.

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