Steven Taylor
Alfred Hitchcock and Three Scurvy Figures
Ted Hughes (1930-98), Claude Gellee (1600-82) and Ovid (43BC-17AD) Fight over the same Woman
Belatedly,
The woman shakes his dead dried skin
From the pleated folds of white bed linen
At the rear window opposite. A crow,
Taken from Alfred Hitchcock by poetry
And then made to be more thoughtful
Engages two magpies in florid combat
For the high crown of a budding tree
In her front garden. The husband is gone.
And at last
So has her dandruff. The empty sky
Is once again free to be sponsored.
This time not by her Ted or an Alf.
But by a Claude, Le Lorrain,
His tiny flocks of sheep munching
utterly content, but underneath.
She regrets nothing. London, 1963.
Rien. Ted asks her a final question.
But she pretends that she is dead.
According to Ovid, in lyrical poetry,
For it to be true, ninety-five percent
Of the characters must be genuine.
It’s the same rule for advertising.
Buy Sylvia Plath:
She’s Brilliant and
She Kills Herself
Every Single Time.
Page(s) 59
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