for anne sexton II

remitting sufficient suffering to the succulent nothing
that is heaven,
her suicide's best intention,
thus latterly she her "She" invented,
no evil star starting at heart
where rats dance

(forgetting eternal punishment
for when a self is tardily aborted
Mistress Mercy gets bent)

foreclosing precocious protention
unmentioned, memory's incestuous meaning
being Being's obscenest dream

(& so we cast aside our tired bodies like t-shirts on the hall floor,
we paint God on the walls, though not from memory at all,
empty after all. shall we fall?)

 

David McLean
David McLean was born in Wales and has lived in Sweden since 1987. You can find out more about him at his myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/david_mclean.