Anne Sexton Quotes - Page 13

Quotes about:

• The family story tells, and it was told true,
  of my great-grandfather who begat eight
  genius children and bought twelve almost new
  grand pianos. He left a considerable estate
  when he died.

  Anne Sexton

  Children, Piano, Eight

  Anne Sexton (1964). “Selected poems”

  4 Copy quote

• being sixteen in the pants I died full of questions

  Anne Sexton

  Sixteen, Pants, Died

  5 Copy quote

• If you meet a cross-eyed person
  you must plunge into the grass,
  alongside the chilly ants,
  fish through the green fingernails
  and come up with the four-leaf clover.

  Anne Sexton

  Magic, Four, Green

  Anne Sexton (1975). “The Awful Rowing Toward God”, Boston : Houghton Mifflin

  6 Copy quote

• I, in my brand new body,
  which was not a woman's yet,
  told the stars my questions
  and thought God could really see
  the heat and the painted light,
  elbows, knees, dreams, goodnight.

  Anne Sexton

  Dream, Stars, Light

  Anne Sexton, Linda Gray Sexton, Lois Ames (2004). “Anne Sexton: A Self-portrait in Letters”, p.2, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  4 Copy quote

• I did not know the woman I would be
  nor that blood would bloom in me
  each month like an exotic flower,
  nor that children,
  two monuments,
  would break from between my legs.

  Anne Sexton

  Children, Growing Up, Flower

  4 Copy quote

• You cutting the lawn, fixing the machines,
  all this leprous day and then more vodka,
  more soda and the pond forgiving our bodies,
  the pond sucking out the throb.

  Anne Sexton

  Cutting, Forgiving, Ponds

  Anne Sexton (1974). “The death notebooks”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)

  4 Copy quote

• There is an animal inside me,
  clutching fast to my heart,
  a huge crab.

  Anne Sexton

  Heart, Animal, Crabs

  Anne Sexton (1975). “The Awful Rowing Toward God”, Boston : Houghton Mifflin

  5 Copy quote

• My husband sings Baa Baa black sheep and we pretend
  that all's certain and good, that the marriage won't end.

  Anne Sexton

  Marriage, Husband, Divorce

  Anne Sexton (1978). “Words for Dr. Y.: uncollected poems with three stories”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)

  4 Copy quote

• I am tearing the feathers out of the pillows,
  waiting, waiting for Daddy to come home
  and stuff me so full of our infected child
  that I turn invisible, but married,
  at last.

  Anne Sexton

  Marriage, Children, Home

  Anne Sexton, Diane Wood Middlebrook, Diana Hume George (2000). “Selected Poems of Anne Sexton”, p.254, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  7 Copy quote

• it
  was my first doll that water went
  into and water came out of much
  earlier it was the diaper I wore
  and the dirt thereof and my
  mother hating me for it

  Anne Sexton

  Mother, Hate, Water

  4 Copy quote

• I remember the stink of the liverwurst.
  How I was put on a platter and laid
  between the mayonnaise and the bacon.
  The rhythm of the refrigerator
  had been disturbed.

  Anne Sexton

  Mayonnaise, Remember, Eating

  Anne Sexton, Diane Wood Middlebrook, Diana Hume George (2000). “Selected Poems of Anne Sexton”, p.205, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  8 Copy quote

• Come, my pretender, my fritter,
  my bubbler, my chicken biddy!
  Oh succulent one,
  it is but one turn in the road
  and I would be a cannibal!

  Anne Sexton

  Would Be, Eating, Chickens

  24 Copy quote

• Despite my asbestos gloves,
  the cough is filling me with black,
  and a red powder seeps through my veins.

  Anne Sexton

  Fire, Black, Asbestos

  Anne Sexton, “Love Letter Written In A Burning BuILDIng”

  5 Copy quote

• I have a black look I do not
  like. It is a mask I try on.
  I migrate toward it and its frog
  sits on my lips and defecates.

  Anne Sexton

  Anger, Black, Trying

  Anne Sexton, “Again And Again And Again”

  7 Copy quote

• Man
  is a bird full of mud,
  I say aloud.
  And death looks on with a casual eye
  and scratches his anus.

  Anne Sexton

  Eye, Men, Bird

  Anne Sexton (1975). “The Awful Rowing Toward God”, Boston : Houghton Mifflin

  8 Copy quote

• Rejoice with the day lily for it is born for a day to live by the mailbox and glorify the roadside

  Anne Sexton

  Lilies, Born, Mailboxes

  Anne Sexton (1974). “The death notebooks”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)

  9 Copy quote

• And within the house
  ashes are being stuffed into my marriage,
  fury is lapping the walls,
  dishes crack on the shelves,
  a strangler needs my throat,
  the daughter has ceased to eat anything.

  Anne Sexton

  Daughter, Wall, Divorce

  Anne Sexton (1976). “45 Mercy Street”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)

  4 Copy quote

• Pulling off the fat diamond engagement ring,
  pulling off the elopement wedding ring,
  and holding them, clicking them
  in thumb and forefinger,
  the indent of twenty-five years,
  like a tiny rip leaving its mark.

  Anne Sexton

  Rip, Divorce, Years

  Anne Sexton (1976). “45 Mercy Street”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)

  5 Copy quote

• Look to your heart that flutters in and out like a moth. God is not indifferent to your need. You have a thousand prayers but God has one.

  Anne Sexton

  Prayer, Heart, Needs

  9 Copy quote

• My sleeping pill is white.
  It is a splendid pearl;
  it floats me out of myself,
  my stung skin as alien
  as a loose bolt of cloth.

  Anne Sexton

  Sleep, White, Skins

  Anne Sexton, Diane Wood Middlebrook, Diana Hume George (2000). “Selected Poems of Anne Sexton”, p.24, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  5 Copy quote

• the marriage twists, holds firm, a sailor's knot.

  Anne Sexton

  Marriage, Twists, Sailor

  Anne Sexton (1978). “Words for Dr. Y.: uncollected poems with three stories”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)

  4 Copy quote

• Blue eyes wash off sometimes.

  Anne Sexton

  Eye, Blue, Blue Eyes

  Anne Sexton (1978). “Words for Dr. Y.: uncollected poems with three stories”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)

  7 Copy quote

• We talked death with burned-up intensity, both of us drawn to it like moths to an electric light bulb. Sucking on it!

  Anne Sexton

  Light, Intensity, Bulbs

  4 Copy quote

• unless I can shake myself free of my dog, my flag,
  of my desk, my mind, I find life a bit of a drag.
  Not always, mind you. Usually I'm like my frying pan
  useful, graceful, sturdy and with no caper, no plan.

  Anne Sexton

  Dog, Boredom, Mind

  Anne Sexton, Diane Wood Middlebrook, Diana Hume George (2000). “Selected Poems of Anne Sexton”, p.263, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  4 Copy quote

• I would like to think that no one would die anymore
  if we all believed in daisies
  but the worms know better, don't they?
  They slide into the ear of a corpse
  and listen to his great sigh.

  Anne Sexton

  Thinking, Ears, Slides

  Anne Sexton (1974). “The death notebooks”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)

  8 Copy quote

Page 13 of 14

First

← Prev

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

Next →

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin