lady lazarus

muhtesem bir sylvia plath siiri.

"i have done it again.
one year in every ten
i manage it----

a sort of walking miracle, my skin
bright as a nazi lampshade,
my right foot

a paperweight,
my face a featureless, fine
jew linen.

peel off the napkin
0 my enemy.
do i terrify?----

the nose, the eye pits, the full set of teeth?
the sour breath
will vanish in a day.

soon, soon the flesh
the grave cave ate will be
at home on me

and i a smiling woman.
i am only thirty.
and like the cat i have nine times to die.

this is number three.
what a trash
to annihilate each decade.

what a million filaments.
the peanut-crunching crowd
shoves in to see

them unwrap me hand and foot
the big strip tease.
gentlemen, ladies

these are my hands
my knees.
i may be skin and bone,

nevertheless, i am the same, identical woman.
the first time it happened i was ten.
it was an accident.

the second time i meant
to last it out and not come back at all.
i rocked shut

as a seashell.
they had to call and call
and pick the worms off me like sticky pearls.

dying
is an art, like everything else,
i do it exceptionally well.

i do it so it feels like hell.
i do it so it feels real.
i guess you could say i’ve a call.

it’s easy enough to do it in a cell.
it’s easy enough to do it and stay put.
it’s the theatrical

comeback in broad day
to the same place, the same face, the same brute
amused shout:

’a miracle!’
that knocks me out.
there is a charge

for the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge
for the hearing of my heart----
it really goes.

and there is a charge, a very large charge
for a word or a touch
or a bit of blood

or a piece of my hair or my clothes.
so, so, herr doktor.
so, herr enemy.

i am your opus,
i am your valuable,
the pure gold baby

that melts to a shriek.
i turn and burn.
do not think i underestimate your great concern.

ash, ash ---
you poke and stir.
flesh, bone, there is nothing there----

a cake of soap,
a wedding ring,
a gold filling.

herr god, herr lucifer
beware
beware.

out of the ash
i rise with my red hair
and i eat men like air."