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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE DEATH KING, by ANNE SEXTON Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I hired a carpenter Last Line: With my aphrodisiac Subject(s): God; Religion; Theology | |||
I hired a carpenter to build my coffin and last night I lay in it, braced by a pillow, sniffing the wood, letting the old king breathe on me, thinking of my poor murdered body, murdered by time, waiting to turn stiff as a field marshal, letting the silence dishonor me, remembering that I'll never cough again. Death will be the end of fear and the fear of dying, fear like a dog stuffed in my mouth, feal like dung stuffed up my nose, fear where water turns into steel, fear as my breast flies into the Disposall, fear as flies tremble in my ear, fear as the sun ignites in my lap, fear as night can't be shut off, and the dawn, my habitual dawn, is locked up forever. Fear and a coffin to lie in like a dead potato. Even then I will dance in my dire clothes, a crematory flight, blinding my hair and my fingers, wounding God with his blue face, his tyranny, his absolute kingdom, with my aphrodisiac. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MYSTIC BOUNCE by TERRANCE HAYES MATHEMATICS CONSIDERED AS A VICE by ANTHONY HECHT UNHOLY SONNET 11 by MARK JARMAN SHINE, PERISHING REPUBLIC by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE COMING OF THE PLAGUE by WELDON KEES A LITHUANIAN ELEGY by ROBERT KELLY |
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