Flying with Icarus
(Remembering Sylvia Plath)
Published in The Anthology of New England Writers, 2002 Edition
Published in The Poet's Domain, 2003 Edition
Published in Skipping Stones, 2007 Edition
Copyright © 1996, 2007 by
Jason Lester Atkins
985 Fleet Drive, #347
Virginia Beach, VA 23454
All Rights Reserved.
Join me singing
For our winged friends
Who have flown like
Icarus up the double
Helix lines until some
Errant gene tripped their
gentle madness,
Causing them to put
naming aside,
Causing prayers to end
In the teaming tyranny
of their minds.
Join me singing
For our soaring Sylvia,
Flying on her fragile
waxen wings,
Ever pushing sky edges
Where the light is brightest,
Where the exhilaration hides.
See her tucking two
sleeping babies
Into their warm beds,
Saying goodbye to "Daddy",
Saying goodbye to "Ted",
Lying comfortably on the
kitchen floor
After, turning on the
hissing gas.
Some Information About the Above Poem
This is one of a series of free verse poems I wrote concerning the poets that self-destructed: (Plath, Berryman, Sexton, Lowell).
To understand the “poem” a little better on Sylvia Plath:
She taught at “Smith” in U.S. She met Ted Hughes (an English poet) and moved to England where she had 2 children. One of her more famous poems “Daddy” concerned her Father’s World War II experiences in Austria as a citizen. She and Ted separated and she tucked her 2 children safely in bed and went into the kitchen and turned on the gas. Twenty years later Ted Hughes wrote a collection of poems concerning his relationship with Sylvia that won the “Booker” prize in England and became a best seller in the U.S.
Jason Lester Atkins - December 6, 2002.
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