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May 18th, 2008 - we have 237 poets, 8036 poems and 17449 comments.
Anne Sexton - For My Lover, Returning To His Wife

She is all there. 
She was melted carefully down for you 
and cast up from your childhood, 
cast up from your one hundred favorite aggies. 
She has always been there, my darling. 
She is, in fact, exquisite. 
Fireworks in the dull middle of February 
and as real as a cast-iron pot. 
Let's face it, I have been momentary. 
vA luxury. A bright red sloop in the harbor. 
My hair rising like smoke from the car window. 
Littleneck clams out of season. 
She is more than that. She is your have to have, 
has grown you your practical your tropical growth. 
This is not an experiment. She is all harmony. 
She sees to oars and oarlocks for the dinghy, 
has placed wild flowers at the window at breakfast, 
sat by the potter's wheel at midday, 
set forth three children under the moon, 
three cherubs drawn by Michelangelo, 
done this with her legs spread out 
in the terrible months in the chapel. 
If you glance up, the children are there 
like delicate balloons resting on the ceiling. 
She has also carried each one down the hall 
after supper, their heads privately bent, 
two legs protesting, person to person, 
her face flushed with a song and their little sleep. 
I give you back your heart. 
I give you permission -- 
for the fuse inside her, throbbing 
angrily in the dirt, for the bitch in her 
and the burying of her wound -- 
for the burying of her small red wound alive -- 
for the pale flickering flare under her ribs, 
for the drunken sailor who waits in her left pulse, 
for the mother's knee, for the stocking, 
for the garter belt, for the call -- 
the curious call 
when you will burrow in arms and breasts 
and tug at the orange ribbon in her hair 
and answer the call, the curious call. 
She is so naked and singular 
She is the sum of yourself and your dream. 
Climb her like a monument, step after step. 
She is solid. 
As for me, I am a watercolor. 
I wash off.

Added: on October 1st, 2005 at 2:13 AM | Viewed: 11236 times | Comments and analysis of For My Lover, Returning To His Wife by Anne Sexton Comments (7)


For My Lover, Returning To His Wife - Comments and Information

Poet: Anne Sexton
Poem: For My Lover, Returning To His Wife

Comment 7 of 7, added on February 10th, 2008 at 10:22 PM.

And the mods are the Gestapo.

Ambies from United States
Comment 6 of 7, added on June 17th, 2007 at 12:16 AM.

This was the first poem that got me interested in Anne Sexton & she is my favorite poet by far. I love the line "for the pale flickering flare under her ribs," it evokes such beautiful imagery.

Amanda from United States
Comment 5 of 7, added on October 1st, 2005 at 2:13 AM.

Don't you women wonder what that woman sleeps in or what parfume she wears? This poem brings about all the emotions that the other woman feels and even if it doesn't end should you give your lover back?

julia from United States

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