Poetic Vessel

Before you find yourself haplessly
Maneuvering between the two 
Black Clashing Rocks 

On the way to your next port of call, 
Stop over at one called Ithaca and stay long 
Enough to find out what it means— 

It’s either that or it’s time 
To give up the ship.

Eye Opener: Letter to Philip Larkin

Dear Mr. Larkin, 

I just finished reading your poem “This Be the Verse” 
For Mr. Throckmorton A. Thrasher’s English class, 
And as he wants us all to write you 
Our impressions of it or else, I just want to say 
I don’t remember my folks fucking me up one bit— 
Come to think of it, I don’t recall them fucking at all; 
From the looks of it, I guess yours did it 
In plain view of everybody, including you. 

Sincerely yours, 

Thomas LeVoyeur III, 
R. Clement Caning School of Interdisciplinary 
Inquisitional Studies, 13 Hard Knox Lane, 
Sully Hull, England 

Malala

No tears. Her name’s all 
Song and it’s all 

Ready a rallying cry.

Rash

Looking back 

In your great haste, that moonlit snail 
Trail you rashly took for inspiration, now 

Having barely scratched the surface, the soiled 
Spectacle of lunatic ants over the moon 

In your underpants, dejection.

That Last Chapter, Just Like That

“I think as I age, I’m becoming more historical.” 
—Sylvia Plath, from a 1962 interview 


Not what you might think at first but simply that 
She was beginning to read more history, 
Nothing more than that.

 . 


2012 and now looking at a photograph of her, 
Young and looking so vivacious 
Some fifty years back, it’s hard to imagine 
How that lovely head could have 
Put an end to it all—

.


(So terrible a timeworn phrase, 
To be avoided at all costs)

 . 


Yet the longer and harder you look, 
You cannot help but see 

Her eyes are trying hard 
To focus on whatever it was 

That made it all so easy.