‘I simply cannot see where there is to get to’ always undoes me. Eternal refrain. Thank you for bringing this poem back to me. I didn’t realise how much I needed it x
Once upon a time I had a little book of Sylvia Plath's poetry. Like Patti, i had Ariel sometime in my early twenties. I found a four leaf clover. I placed it inside Sylvia Plath's book like a talisman against all that could go wrong. I found a six leaf clover. I placed it, too, inside Sylvia Plath's book, a double talisman, a surety of good luck, somewhere, sometime, surely. Years later a friend came to visit. She was sick, very sick, dying. I found Ariel, opened it up, took out the four leaf clover, and asked that its luck spare my friend. She lived. I threw the four leaf clover away and thanked it, as I felt I had used up all my luck. My friend is still alive. All of this is true.
Patti, in 'M Train' I read the text where you visit Sylvia's grave. A sad and lonely trip. I understood that the words of her poetry book 'Ariel', which you got when you were 20, are very important to you, and the verse And I/Am the arrow, has been a strong encouragement to you. I think you are lucky to have met such a poet.
As you wrote in your book, her life can only be described as unfortunate, and I sometimes wonder if it could have been a little more manageable. It is regrettable that the breathing space between her, her family and her medical care was not quite right.
I never recognized the voice of Syliva who shared my mother's name and beautiful face. I was the angry child, hurt as only a fingerless piano player could be.
Wholesome, well fed, but full of spite and venom. My music was noise, and my noise was dangerous.
It was better that way so that no one would be tainted by my voice, and I might proceed to death, unhindered by the inexplicable events of the day.
- inspired by the rendition by Patti Smith in the pristine voice of a woman whose definition has come to mean so much to so many, Sylvia Plath.
Wonderful, thank you so much! I'm really looking forward to my visit next week in Leeds for the Bronte Society Conference, visiting the grave of Silvia Plath nearby too and following the footsteps of Emily Bronte walking to Top Withens... Besides that I was a little bit sad that I couldn't see the Blue Moon - to much fog in my area. So it was a pleasure to get your photograph from Yorkshire!!!
Despair -she brings us into her world of the dark night of the Soul. ASswe experience what we believe, so she faces the bleakness of her interior life. AS one who along with so many has been in these depths. I want to say, "Wait! This is one moment. There is another place within your infinite Soul.T. S. Eliot was asked why he no longer wrote despairing poetry and he answered "why would i need to? I found love. Love is all I was looking for." I do not believe in victims. Sylvia was looking for love and finally could not face life without it. Brave and ruthlessly honest she shows us our own experience of reaching out and finding no one reaching back. the infinite we look for is within. She was both a light and a light house for directing us away from trusting the persona mind to brig us to our Infinite and essential Self. She is loved by so many.
The perfect poem for a moonlit morning! Finally, we have clear skies over our acre of the world, a reprieve from all the rain, and I've been enjoying the moon, so big and bright! She was still up when I went to the barn to do chores, so bright, you could read by her light. It was a very chilly 46 degrees, in a couple of days, we'll be in the 90's, summer's last hurrah!
Thank you for sharing this beautiful poem, Patti and for the picture of the blue moon over Leeds. I am in Leeds but every time I looked up, it was cloudy. Just my luck!!! Xxx
Yes, you did it justice! In the dark and silence of my room, made me tremble. ♥️
An incredible poem and a very poignant reading...reaching out to Sylvia Plath...
‘I simply cannot see where there is to get to’ always undoes me. Eternal refrain. Thank you for bringing this poem back to me. I didn’t realise how much I needed it x
Once upon a time I had a little book of Sylvia Plath's poetry. Like Patti, i had Ariel sometime in my early twenties. I found a four leaf clover. I placed it inside Sylvia Plath's book like a talisman against all that could go wrong. I found a six leaf clover. I placed it, too, inside Sylvia Plath's book, a double talisman, a surety of good luck, somewhere, sometime, surely. Years later a friend came to visit. She was sick, very sick, dying. I found Ariel, opened it up, took out the four leaf clover, and asked that its luck spare my friend. She lived. I threw the four leaf clover away and thanked it, as I felt I had used up all my luck. My friend is still alive. All of this is true.
Patti, in 'M Train' I read the text where you visit Sylvia's grave. A sad and lonely trip. I understood that the words of her poetry book 'Ariel', which you got when you were 20, are very important to you, and the verse And I/Am the arrow, has been a strong encouragement to you. I think you are lucky to have met such a poet.
As you wrote in your book, her life can only be described as unfortunate, and I sometimes wonder if it could have been a little more manageable. It is regrettable that the breathing space between her, her family and her medical care was not quite right.
She is not sweet like Mary.
I am so moved by this poem, and the manner in which it was read by you, Patti. I am going to be reading again. So powerful in its solemnity and truth.
What a marvelous reading - such a powerful poem - it stops me in tracks, and haunts me. 🌙🖤
Until Now
I never recognized the voice of Syliva who shared my mother's name and beautiful face. I was the angry child, hurt as only a fingerless piano player could be.
Wholesome, well fed, but full of spite and venom. My music was noise, and my noise was dangerous.
It was better that way so that no one would be tainted by my voice, and I might proceed to death, unhindered by the inexplicable events of the day.
- inspired by the rendition by Patti Smith in the pristine voice of a woman whose definition has come to mean so much to so many, Sylvia Plath.
BA - 9/1/23
I saw that moon....
Beautiful reading and rendition of Plath’s poetic genius, elemental, raw, I am I am.
Wonderful, thank you so much! I'm really looking forward to my visit next week in Leeds for the Bronte Society Conference, visiting the grave of Silvia Plath nearby too and following the footsteps of Emily Bronte walking to Top Withens... Besides that I was a little bit sad that I couldn't see the Blue Moon - to much fog in my area. So it was a pleasure to get your photograph from Yorkshire!!!
Despair -she brings us into her world of the dark night of the Soul. ASswe experience what we believe, so she faces the bleakness of her interior life. AS one who along with so many has been in these depths. I want to say, "Wait! This is one moment. There is another place within your infinite Soul.T. S. Eliot was asked why he no longer wrote despairing poetry and he answered "why would i need to? I found love. Love is all I was looking for." I do not believe in victims. Sylvia was looking for love and finally could not face life without it. Brave and ruthlessly honest she shows us our own experience of reaching out and finding no one reaching back. the infinite we look for is within. She was both a light and a light house for directing us away from trusting the persona mind to brig us to our Infinite and essential Self. She is loved by so many.
The perfect poem for a moonlit morning! Finally, we have clear skies over our acre of the world, a reprieve from all the rain, and I've been enjoying the moon, so big and bright! She was still up when I went to the barn to do chores, so bright, you could read by her light. It was a very chilly 46 degrees, in a couple of days, we'll be in the 90's, summer's last hurrah!
Thank you for sharing this beautiful poem, Patti and for the picture of the blue moon over Leeds. I am in Leeds but every time I looked up, it was cloudy. Just my luck!!! Xxx
the moon
is a mirror of lIght
may Light pierce the veil of our mind
may we ride free
into Eternity