mad girls

ok, so i spent the afternoon rereading sylvia plath's the bell jar rather than reading the book club book....four spirits by sena jeter nusland, who will give a reading at centre on wednesday...our bookclub is attending, after a shared dinner and discussion......and yet this outing was not enough to induce me to pick the book back up and finish.......i found the prose tiresome rather than evocative......on the other hand......i am always drawn into plath's descent into madness.....no matter how many times i choose it over other, never-read options......the following is a villanelle (sp) from the postscript of this book.......it was worth the reread to find this poem.......


Mad Girl's Love Song


I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan's men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I fancied you'd return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)