avoid the outgrown garden,
her gown cut like a humming-bird
a cry of flesh and bone
a death tree for you
I often wonder where you've gone
summer grows over your body,
and I can't help but imagine
eyes to yours, a page of yours
a scripture, untouchable, in legacy
as the fuchsia grows on your grave
can't help but think
thawing in fugue, trapping words
as heavy as your childhood
I am guilty of envy (poets often are)
a young woman; I wonder who you'd be now,
I wish your heart stayed beating;
a ship root into the sea,
and ash into the wood,
stunned by violets,
I lie; I am trapped by your words.
© 2021 lucysworks.com All Rights Reserved.
Written for the dVerse 5/18/21 prompt:
Select ONE of our favourite poets (a celebrated or a lesser known one) and write a poem either
- About them (the indirect voice, as exemplified in the first two poems)
Or - Addressing them in the direct voice.
It’s no secret how much I adore Sylvia Plath’s work. It’s wondrous, beautiful, and at times, tragic. She’s a poet that mystifies me completely, captivates a scenery beyond sheer word, and I wish she could have been on this earth for a while longer. It’s strange to miss someone that you never knew/never met, and who was gone long before you existed; I hope she’s in peace now.
85 responses to “A death tree (to Sylvia Plath).”
I really like your tribute to Silvia Plath. Your images are so real as you lament the loss of a great writer. Wishing her heart and not stopped as she would have been a ships root into the sea…
I often wonder where you’ve gone
summer grows over your body … what a great image!
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Thank you so very much, Dwight!
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You are welcome!
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I’ve had a similar thought reading these poems, they’re letters of envy, mimicking styles and people we’d like to emulate. Nicely done.
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I thought the same when reading through dVerse tonight, hence that particular line especially when it’s something I’ve experienced before. Thank you so much for your feedback!
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Sylvia Plath is a genius and so are you🖤
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Silvia*
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Aww, I don’t know what to say Queen. I’m flattered. Thank you so much. ❤️❤️
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🖤🖤
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❤️❤️
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I love Sylvia’s style and you write it so well here! It’s easy to get trapped in her words and it’s interesting how we do come to know these legends in an intimate way as they are immortalized on the page as a “scripture, untouchable” yet very real and flawed like all of us.
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Thank you so much! ❤️
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I really love her. This is a wonderful tribute, Lucy!
❤
David
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Aww, thank you so much! 💖
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Such beautiful imagery the hummingbird dress and the fuschia on the grave. Yes, you capture Plath and add your own spark.
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Thank you!
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This is one of those”I wish I’d written this” kind of poems – Plaths lineage runs in your veins – absolutely gorgeous writi g
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Thank you so very much, Laura.
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What a beautiful tribute.
I love this: “ash into the wood,
stunned by violets”
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Thank you!
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Oh, Lucy yes! I really feel this. I lost my mum to suicide and she was a fan of Plath’s poetry, so I’m basically in bits now.
‘I wish your heart stayed beating’
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Thank you, Ingrid. I’m so sorry for your loss.
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❤️
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I can feel your mournful missing of your kindred spirit here, Lucy.
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Thank you, Lisa. ❤️
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You’re welcome, Lucy.
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❤ ❤
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wow, this is so so great. really great job… i love plath’s writing, such intense vivd writing. you captured her essence very well.
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Thank you!
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Unbelievably Plath like ….. you captured her …. one of my favorites, Lucy! Cheers.
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Aww, thank you Helen!
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This is brilliant Lucy. Sylvia did a helluva’ lotta’ livin’ in her 31 years — and not all easy. A most intelligent women. She began expressing herself in verse before she reached double digits in age. Excellent writing my ftiend! 👌
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Thank you so much, Rob!
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I’m not a fan of Plath, but I think it’s nice that you have so much brightness, summer and hummingbirds in your poem to her. Being familiar with Heptonstall the place where Hughes dumped her and where she’s buried, I’d say those are things she’d appreciate.
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Thank you!
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I thought you would do either Sylvia Plath or Ann Sexton… I wasn’t surprised… so many of her poems are also her story and somehow they come together as one with your poem
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Thank you. ❤
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Being a huge fan of Plath, I really admire the emotion, the intensity of your tribute poem especially; “I often wonder where you’ve gone summer grows over your body, and I can’t help but imagine eyes to yours, a page of yours a scripture, untouchable, in legacy as the fuchsia grows on your grave.”💝💝
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Thank you so, so much! 😊
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Excellent.
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Thank you.
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I love your style of writing
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Aww, thank you. ❤
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Well done tree treat. In this place I say hello to the hummingbird who only knows the nectar of the latest flower that it dances for. It is frivolous on the grave. A child will bring you to a feeder, and read you words, sing a song for rapid wings, maybe learn for you to play a non sequitur like “the flight of the bumble bee” just because it is fast and quickly done like life and death, to be in fugue in flight and in whimsical sadness until stunned in violet.
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Thank you so much!
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[…] A death tree (to Sylvia Plath). […]
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this felt like a part of The Bell Jar. felt the haunting images. the subtle desperation. the adoration.
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Wow, that’s really a compliment. Thank you so, so much. 😊
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you’re welcome, Lucy!
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A beautiful dedication to a wonderful poet, another sad loss.
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Thank you.
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[…] A death tree (to Sylvia Plath). […]
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Thank you for sharing. 💖
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[…] A death tree (to Sylvia Plath). […]
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Thank you for sharing my work! Much appreciated.
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Oh Lucy….a wonderful tribute to this most excellent writer and complex woman.
“as the fuchsia grows on your grave” and I love how you’ve embedded this bright color into this poem.
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Thank you, Lillian! 😊
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[…] A death tree (to Sylvia Plath). […]
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Thanks for sharing my work.
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Darn good write! Bravo!
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Thank you! 😊
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Wondrous, beautiful, and tragic notes seep into this piece! I love the metaphors that draw on the rawness of an outgrown garden and the more forest-y elements of fuchsia that loves cool areas and shade. I feel not death in this piece but a more mellow passing, perhaps of thought or imagination or simply something like youth that is slipping away and cannot be caught.
Thank you for sharing!
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Aww, thank you so much Jaya for your feedback and analysis! ❤ ❤
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Such a beautiful imagery
I love this line
I wish your heart stayed beating
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Thank you!
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Love it!🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
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Thank you so much! 😁
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This is magnificent 👏
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Aww, thank you. 😊
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Sylvia Plath is one of my favourite poets. I think she would have liked this poem! Plus, the fact that you used the imagery of a tree to convey your feelings is kind of significant, since Plath herself wrote poems revolving around trees too, like “Elm” and “The Moon and the Yew Tree”. This was a lovely tribute to her!
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Aww, thank you so much.
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Very well done.
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Thank you greatly, Ken.
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Bravo!!! Your words are elegant and roll right off the tongue! Sylvia would be proud!
Thank you for stopping by my page and reading.
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Aww, thank you so very much! ❤ ❤
And anytime! I enjoyed your work.
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Sylvia and Anne Sexton. Lost too soon. Like Hemingway, maybe death was sweeter than life. Left more questions than answers.
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I agree with you. I wonder where they are now, sometimes.
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I wrote poetry for them. My Purgatory Inn series. They are waiting for me at the Purgatory Inn. I hope one day. To sit and have a long conversation with dear Lucy. If we read their words. They are still alive for us.
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❤️❤️
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Every line here is a knockout! Poignant and amazing. I especially love “summer grows over your body”
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Thank you!
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Sylvia Plath was a beautiful soul and a legend and this tribute is heartfelt,
Love this
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Thank you. ❤
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This is stunning, especially because I know how old you are. The gown cut like a hummingbird, stunned by violets, all of it. Bravo!
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Aww, thank you. That really means a lot to hear that, Colleen. ❤ ❤
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