Recrossing the Water: a conversation with Sylvia Plath

pexels-photo-695644.jpeg

“It is better to light a candle then curse the darkness.” —Chinese proverb

 

 

I understand, Sylvia. If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll recognize the blackness within. How it envelops us like a night sky at Mohican Center, far from firelight, where the crunch of gravel under our steps is our only evidence of embodiment. How it flavors the emptiness of a final intimacy, during a second-to-last encounter, as the windows of an old nissan frost over from ever-rapid breaths. How like an old, obsessive-compulsion that overwhelms aย papier-mรขchรฉ resolve and actualizes a delightful ruin, this blackness is.

 

But you need to understand, Sylvia. Blackness does not dwell alone within us. It shares its darkness with the breathtaking light of color. How it blinds us in beauty like the peak cherry blossoms carried to the sky on a spring breeze. How it bears us like bay water supporting backfloaters on an August day devoid of a single cloud. How like a supernatural stream that flows up and out of the ruins of our making, this color is.

 

We are blinded by both the blackness and color we encounter in “such expressionless sirens” like your “stars among open lillies.” The choice of which one to embrace is always ours.

 

ambers …

last darkness

before dawn

 

 

for Real Toads’ย Fireblossom Friday: This Is (Almost) The End, imagined by Fireblossom

Poets United: Poetry Pantry #401, posted by Mary

#GloPoWriMo2018 / #NaPoWriMo2018ย  29/30ย  (APRIL 4, 1962: โ€œCROSSING THE WATERโ€)

 

NaPoWriMo 2018

 

 

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Comments

21 responses to “Recrossing the Water: a conversation with Sylvia Plath”

  1. vhosking Avatar

    Very true and wise words. Still I get depressed reading Plath.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Frank J. Tassone Avatar

      Indeed. Thanks for your feedback! ๐Ÿ˜€

      Like

  2. Vivian Zems Avatar

    A great response to Sylvia. Lovely haiku.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Frank J. Tassone Avatar

      Thanks, Vivian! ๐Ÿ˜€

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Sherry Blue Sky Avatar

    The choice of which one to embrace is ours………I wish more people understood this. Good one, Frank.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Frank J. Tassone Avatar

      Me too, Sherry! Thanks! ๐Ÿ˜€

      Like

  4. Donna@LivingFromHappiness Avatar

    Very interesting in your response and haiku!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Frank J. Tassone Avatar

      Thank you, Donna! ๐Ÿ˜€

      Like

  5. ayala Avatar

    A lovely response.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Frank J. Tassone Avatar

      Thank you ๐Ÿ˜€

      Like

  6. Rosemary Nissen-Wade Avatar

    Wise and beautiful. If only she had been capable of that choice, in THAT moment!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Frank J. Tassone Avatar

      Indeed, Rosemary. Thanks! ๐Ÿ˜€

      Like

  7. coalblack Avatar

    I expect we embrace them both, by turns. Nice to see you, Frank. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Frank J. Tassone Avatar

      Thanks! ๐Ÿ˜€

      Like

  8. Kerry O'Connor Avatar
    Kerry O’Connor

    I enjoyed the intensity of your descriptions in the prose.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Frank J. Tassone Avatar

      Thanks! ๐Ÿ˜€

      Like

  9. kim881 Avatar

    I love your response to Sylvia Plath, Frank, and how you put her straight, especially:
    ‘How it bears us like bay water supporting backfloaters on an August day devoid of a single cloud’
    and the amber-coloured haiku..

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Frank J. Tassone Avatar

      Thanks, Kim! ๐Ÿ˜€

      Liked by 1 person

  10. Bjรถrn Rudberg (brudberg) Avatar

    Wonderful prose… and I feel like you’re talking to her… ,maybe more to the one in the bell-jar, the person than the one in the poems… but I like that.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Frank J. Tassone Avatar

      Thanks, Bjorn. ๐Ÿ˜€

      Like

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