Cut - A poem by Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath - Cut

for Susan O'Neill Roe

What a thrill ----
My thumb instead of an onion.
The top quite gone
Except for a sort of hinge

Of skin,
A flap like a hat,
Dead white.
Then that red plush.

Little pilgrim,
The Indian's axed your scalp.
Your turkey wattle
Carpet rolls

Straight from the heart.
I step on it,
Clutching my bottle
Of pink fizz. A celebration, this is.
Out of a gap
A million soldiers run,
Redcoats, every one.

Whose side are they one?
O my
Homunculus, I am ill.
I have taken a pill to kill

The thin
Papery feeling.
Saboteur,
Kamikaze man ----

The stain on your
Gauze Ku Klux Klan
Babushka
Darkens and tarnishes and when
The balled
Pulp of your heart
Confronts its small
Mill of silence

How you jump ----
Trepanned veteran,
Dirty girl,
Thumb stump.

Added: on March 6th, 2006 at 11:55 PM | Viewed: 15051 times | Comments and analysis of Cut by Sylvia Plath Comments (27)

Cut - Comments and Information
Poet: Sylvia Plath Poem: Cut Volume: The Collected Poems Year: Published/Written in 1962 Comment 27 of 27, added on April 3rd, 2008 at 1:03 AM. I love how she turns a simple cut, something that everyone has done at one at one point or another, and turned it into a metaphor of her life.i like this poem that she wrote. katie from Mexico Comment 26 of 27, added on March 10th, 2006 at 6:14 PM. I love how she turns a simple cut, something that everyone has done at one at one point or another, and turned it into a metaphor of her life. She looks at her thumb so apathetically, as though it's just something else she expected, another blow. If Prozac is stopping people from writing more poetry like this, then I say we outlaw it. Sylvia Plath turned her depression into art, something everyone could learn from. Nikola from United States Comment 25 of 27, added on March 6th, 2006 at 11:55 PM. me personally i love this peom.. but what fascinates me and really confusing me at the same time if thats possible is how she can make us readers pick all these images out of her writing over just cutting her thumb while making the dinner? im sure we have all cut ourselves at one time if not then get out of your bubble but it takes a true gifted person to turn it into something so horrible like the Klu Klux Klan.. 3 cheers for her mind!:) Jacy from New Zealand More Comments >> Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, Cut, has received 27 comments. Click here to read them, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by Sylvia Plath with others on the American Poems poetry forum!

Poem Info
Poet: Sylvia Plath Poem: Cut Volume: The Collected Poems Year: Published/Written in 1962 Last read: May 17 2008, 8:36PM Viewed 15051 times. Added on March 6th, 2006 at 11:55 PM.

Plath Info
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