Anne Sexton Quotes - Page 6

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Everyone in me is a bird I am beating all my wings

Anne Sexton

Wings, Bird

Anne Sexton (1999). “Love Poems”, p.12, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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Jesus saw the multitudes were hungry
and He said, Oh Lord,
send down a short-order cook.

Anne Sexton

God, Jesus, Order

Anne Sexton, Diane Wood Middlebrook, Diana Hume George (2000). “Selected Poems of Anne Sexton”, p.195, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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What's the point of fighting the dollars
when all you need is a warm bed?
When the dog barks you let him in.
All we need is someone to let us in.
And one other thing:
to consider the lilies in the field.

Anne Sexton

Life, Dog, Fighting

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

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Then all this became history. Your hand found mine. Life rushed to my fingers like a blood clot. Oh, my carpenter, the fingers are rebuilt. They dance with yours.

Anne Sexton

Blood, Hands, Found

Anne Sexton (1999). “Love Poems”, p.2, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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My mouth blooms like a cut.

Anne Sexton

Cutting, Kissing, Mouths

Anne Sexton (1999). “Love Poems”, p.2, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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Now I am going back And I have ripped my hand From your hand as I said I would And I have made it this far.

Anne Sexton

Hands, Made, Said

Anne Sexton, Diane Wood Middlebrook, Diana Hume George (2000). “Selected Poems of Anne Sexton”, p.65, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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God went out of me
as if the sea dried up like sandpaper,
as if the sun became a latrine.

Anne Sexton

God, Sea, Religion

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

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Rats live on no evil star

Anne Sexton

Stars, Evil, Rats

Anne Sexton, Linda Gray Sexton, Lois Ames (2004). “Anne Sexton: A Self-portrait in Letters”, p.423, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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The little girl skipped by under the wrinkled oak leaves and held fast to a replica of herself.

Anne Sexton

Girl, Littles, Replica

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Frog has no nerves.
Frog is as old as a cockroach.
Frog is my father's genitals.
Frog is a malformed doorknob.
Frog is a soft bag of green.

Anne Sexton

Father, Green, Frogs

Anne Sexton, Diane Wood Middlebrook, Diana Hume George (2000). “Selected Poems of Anne Sexton”, p.164, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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God has a brown voice, as soft and full as beer.

Anne Sexton

Humorous, Beer, Voice

Anne Sexton, Diane Wood Middlebrook, Diana Hume George (2000). “Selected Poems of Anne Sexton”, p.68, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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Images are probably the most important part of the poem. First of all you want to tell a story, but images are what are going to shore it up and get to the heart of the matter.

Anne Sexton

Heart, Important, Stories

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When I lie down to love,
old dwarf heart shakes her head.
Like an imbecile she was born old.

Anne Sexton

Lying, Heart, Dwarves

Anne Sexton, Diane Wood Middlebrook, Diana Hume George (2000). “Selected Poems of Anne Sexton”, p.50, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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God owns heaven but He craves the earth.

Anne Sexton

Heaven, Earth, Crave

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

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life is a trick, life is a kitten in a sack.

Anne Sexton

Life, Life Is, Kitten

Anne Sexton, Diane Wood Middlebrook, Diana Hume George (2000). “Selected Poems of Anne Sexton”, p.14, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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If the doctors cure
then the sun sees it.
If the doctors kill
then the earth hides it.
The doctors should fear arrogance
more than cardiac arrest.

Anne Sexton

Doctors, Arrogance, Earth

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

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Some women marry houses. It's another kind of skin; it has a heart, a mouth, a liver and bowel movements.

Anne Sexton

Marriage, Wedding, Heart

Anne Sexton, Diane Wood Middlebrook, Diana Hume George (2000). “Selected Poems of Anne Sexton”, p.64, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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In an old time
there was a king as wise as a dictionary.

Anne Sexton

Wise, Wisdom, Kings

Anne Sexton (2001). “Transformations”, p.11, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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You who have inhabited me in the deepest and most broken place, are going, going

Anne Sexton

Broken

Anne Sexton, “Going Gone”

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Fee-fi-fo-fum - Now I'm borrowed. Now I'm numb.

Anne Sexton

Numb, Fees, Borrowed

Anne Sexton, Diane Wood Middlebrook, Diana Hume George (2000). “Selected Poems of Anne Sexton”, p.115, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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To be without God is to be a snake / who wants to swallow an elephant.

Anne Sexton

God, Snakes, Elephants

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

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My business is words. Words are like labels,
or coins, or better, like swarming bees.

Anne Sexton

Poetry, Labels, Coins

Anne Sexton, Diane Wood Middlebrook, Diana Hume George (2000). “Selected Poems of Anne Sexton”, p.17, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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Someone is dead.
Even the trees know it,
those poor old dancers who come on lewdly,
all pea-green scarfs and spine pole.

Anne Sexton

Dancer, Tree, Green

Anne Sexton, Diane Wood Middlebrook, Diana Hume George (2000). “Selected Poems of Anne Sexton”, p.47, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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I was
the girl of the chain letter,
the girl full of talk of coffins and keyholes,
the one of the telephone bills,
the wrinkled photo and the lost connections.

Anne Sexton

Girl, Connections, Coffins

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No one to hate except the slim fish of memory
that slides in and out of my brain.

Anne Sexton

Memories, Hate, Brain

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

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Born: November 9, 1928
Died: October 4, 1974
Occupation: Poet
Cite this Page: Citation

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