The Complete Poems Anne Sexton WITH A FOREWORD BY Maxine Kumin Houghton Mifflin Company Boston Contents A Note on the Text v How It Was: Maxine Kumin on Anne Sexton xix To BEDLAM AND PART WAY BACK (i960) 1 You, Doctor Martin 3 Kind Sir: These Woods 4 Torn Down from Glory Daily 5 Music Swims Back to Me 6 The Bells 7 Elizabeth Gone 8 Some Foreign Letters 9 The Kite 11 Said the Poet to the Analyst 12 Venus and the Ark 13 Her Kind 15 The Exorcists 16 Where I Live in This Honorable House of the Laurel Tree 17 Portrait of an Old Woman on the College Tavern Wall 18 The Farmer's Wife 19 Funnel 20 The Expatriates 21 vii For Johnny Pole on the Forgotten Beach 22 Unknown Girl in the Maternity Ward 24 What's That 25 The Moss of His Skin 26 Hutch 27 Noon Walk on the Asylum Lawn 27 Ringing the Bells 28 Lullaby 29 The Lost Ingredient 30 The Road Back 30 The Waiting Head 31 Elegy in the Classroom 32 A Story for Rose on the Midnight Flight to Boston 32 11 For John, Who Begs Me Not to Enquire Further 34 The Double Image 35 The Division of Parts 42 ALL MY PRETTY ONES (1962) 1 The Truth the Dead Know 49 All My Pretty Ones 49 Young 51 Lament 52 To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph 53 The Starry Night 53 Old Dwarf Heart 54 I Remember 55 The Operation 56 11 A Curse Against Elegies 60 The Abortion 61 With Mercy for the Greedy 62 For God While Sleeping 63 In the Deep Museum 64 Ghosts 65 Vlll Ill The Fortress 66 IV Old 69 The Hangman 69 Woman with Girdle 70 The House 71 Water 75 Wallflower 76 Housewife 77 Doors, Doors, Doors 78 v Letter Written on a Ferry While Crossing Long Island Sound 81 From the Garden 84 Love Song for K. Owyne 85 Flight 86 For Eleanor Boylan Talking with God 87 The Black Art 88 Letter Written During a January Northeaster 89 LIVE OR DIE (1966) Author's Note 94 And One for My Dame 95 The Sun 96 Flee on Your Donkey 97 Three Green Windows 105 Somewhere in Africa 106 Imitations of Drowning 107 Mother and Jack and the Rain 109 Consorting with Angels 111 The Legend of the One-eyed Man 112 Love Song 115 Man and Wife 116 Those Times ... 118 Two Sons 121 ix To Lose the Earth 123 Sylvia's Death 126 Protestant Easter 128 For the Year of the Insane 131 Crossing the Atlantic 133 Walking in Paris 135 Menstruation at Forty 137 Christmas Eve 139 KE 6-8018 140 Wanting to Die 142 The Wedding Night 144 Little Girl, My String Bean, My Lovely Woman 145 A Little Uncomplicated Hymn 148 Your Face on the Dog's Neck 152 Self in 1958 155 Suicide Note 156 In the Beach House 159 Cripples and Other Stories 160 Pain for a Daughter 163 The Addict 165 Live 167 LOVE POEMS (1969) The Touch 173 The Kiss 174 The Breast 175 The Interrogation of the Man of Many Hearts 176 That Day 180 In Celebration of My Uterus 181 The Nude Swim 183 Song for a Red Nightgown 184 Loving the Killer 185 For My Lover, Returning to His Wife 188 The Break 190 It Is a Spring Afternoon 193 Just Once 194 Again and Again and Again 195 You All Know the Story of the Other Woman 196 x Moon Song, Woman Song 196 The Ballad of the Lonely Masturbator 198 Barefoot 199 The Papa and Mama Dance 200 Now 201 Us 202 Mr. Mine 204 Song for a Lady 204 Knee Song 205 Eighteen Days Without You 205 TRANSFORMATIONS (1971) The Gold Key 223 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 224 The White Snake 229 Rumpelstiltskin 233 The Little Peasant 237 Godfather Death 242 Rapunzel 244 Iron Hans 249 Cinderella 255 One-Eye, Two-Eyes, Three-Eyes 258 The Wonderful Musician 264 Red Riding Hood 267 The Maiden Without Hands 273 The Twelve Dancing Princesses 276 The Frog Prince 281 Hansel and Gretel 286 Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty) 290 THE BOOK OF FOLLY (1972) I. THIRTY POEMS The Ambition Bird 299 The Doctor of the Heart 301 Oh 302 Sweeney 304 xi Mother and Daughter 305 The Wifebeater 307 The Firebombers 308 The One-Legged Man 308 The Assassin 310 Going Gone 311 Anna Who Was Mad 312 The Hex 313 Dreaming the Breasts 314 The Red Shoes 315 The Other 317 The Silence 318 The Hoarder 319 Killing the Spring 320 The Death of the Fathers 322 1. Oysters 322 2. How We Danced 323 3. The Boat 324 4. Santa 325 5. Friends 327 6. Begat 329 Angels of the Love Affair 332 1. Angel of Fire and Genitals 332 2. Angel of Clean Sheets 333 3. Angel of Flight and Sleigh Bells 333 4. Angel of Hope and Calendars 334 5. Angel of Blizzards and Blackouts 335 6. Angel of Beach Houses and Picnics 335 II. THE JESUS PAPERS Jesus Suckles 337 Jesus Awake 338 Jesus Asleep 338 Jesus Raises Up the Harlot 339 Jesus Cooks 340 Jesus Summons Forth 341 Jesus Dies 342 Jesus Unborn 343 The Author of the Jesus Papers Speaks 344 xu THE DEATH NOTEBOOKS (1974) Gods 349 Making a Living 350 For Mr. Death Who Stands with His Door Open 351 Faustus and I 353 The Death Baby 354 1. Dreams 354 2. The Dy-dee Doll 355 3. Seven Times 356 4. Madonna 356 5. Max 357 6. Baby 357 Rats Live on No Evil Star 359 Grandfather, Your Wound 361 Baby Picture 362 The Furies 363 The Fury of Beautiful Bones 363 The Fury of Hating Eyes 364 The Fury of Guitars and Sopranos 365 The Fury of Earth 366 The Fury of Jewels and Coal 367 The Fury of Cooks 367 The Fury of Cocks 369 The Fury of Abandonment 370 The Fury of Overshoes 371 The Fury of Rain Storms 372 The Fury of Flowers and Worms 373 The Fury of God's Good-bye 374 The Fury of Sundays 375 The Fury of Sunsets 376 The Fury of Sunrises 377 Praying on a 707 378 Clothes 380 Mary's Song 381 God's Backside 382 Jesus Walking 383 Hurry Up Please It's Time 384 xiii O Ye Tongues 396 First Psalm 396 Second Psalm 398 Third Psalm 399 Fourth Psalm 401 Fifth Psalm 403 Sixth Psalm 405 Seventh Psalm 406 Eighth Psalm 408 Ninth Psalm 409 Tenth Psalm 411 THE AWFUL ROWING TOWARD GOD (1975) Rowing 417 The Civil War 418 The Children 419 Two Hands 421 The Room of My Life 422 The Witch's Life 423 The Earth Falls Down 424 Courage 425 Riding the Elevator into the Sky 426 When Man Enters Woman 428 The Fish That Walked 428 The Fallen Angels 430 The Earth 431 After Auschwitz 432 The Poet of Ignorance 433 The Sermon of the Twelve Acknowledgments 435 The Evil Eye 437 The Dead Heart 439 The Play 440 The Sickness Unto Death 441 Locked Doors 442 The Evil Seekers 443 The Wall 445 Is It True? 446 Welcome Morning 455 Jesus, the Actor, Plays the Holy Ghost 456 xiv