Poetry Friday June 10, 2022: The Spring Break of Sylvia Plath
Today’s Poetry Friday host is Buffy Silverman. Check out the roundup there.
Spring Break of Sylvia Plath + What I’m Reading
I had big dreams for Spring Break 2022. I knew I couldn’t go out of town because of my daughter’s spring sports schedule. So I decided to take a deep dive into Sylvia Plath. My big plan was to read three books connected to Sylvia Plath all in one week.
Ha! Wishful thinking. Today is my last day of school–many weeks after my Spring Break–and I have finally finished two of the three books about Sylvia Plath.
I bought these three books:
Red Comet is a biography of Sylvia Plath and is over 900 pages. That in itself was an adventure that took me a month (not a week). This book is HUGE and is a commitment, but it well-written and researched. I’d recommend reading it alongside The Collected Poems because then you can refer to the things happening in her life as she wrote the poems.
I read Collected Poems for my three-poems-a-day routine that I do every morning.
I should have called it the “Spring of Sylvia Plath” not the “Spring Break of Sylvia Plath.” I’m still reading the novel The Last Confessions of Sylvia P. and will report back when I finish it.
Haiku of the Week
by the river
a tome of Sylvia’s life
water-swish soundtrack
Photo and Haiku by Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Anyone have a favorite book by or about Sylvia Plath? I’d love to hear about it.
23 Comments
Linda Mitchell
“water-swish” is my favorite term for today. I love how you have goals for certain times. I have summer goals for reading and writing. I hope you make yours and that our paths cross at some time for a check-in. Happy reading and writing!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
I just made my summer goals last week! Can’t wait to dive in! And yes, I hope we get to meet up this summer. Maybe at the LOC?
Tabatha
Go, Marcie! I love that even though you didn’t complete your initial goal, you stuck with it! So easy to give up when the first plan turns out to be overwhelming.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Yes, I couldn’t give up. The bio was too good to stop. I just kept on trucking.
Irene Latham
I love these kinds of intensive author studies! I actually really love “break” in your title because Sylvia certainly had a “break” or two…thank you! xo
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
So true! I’m hoping to do one of these again with a different poet.
Marilny Garcia
Marcie, I often feel like a poet fraud because I don’t know the works of Sylvia Plath. Shocking, I know. Now I have a place to start. Thanks.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
I didn’t know her work either. That’s why I realized I needed to read her poems if I was going to read her bio. It was pretty fun!
Rose Cappelli
Good luck with your plans, and thanks for sharing your haiku and the books by Sylvia. An interesting subject, indeed.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
She lived a fascinating and sad life.
Linda Baie
I’ve read many of her poems but never a bio or whole book, Marcie. It feels like that “water-swish” must have been calming as you read her tumultuous life story. Good for you for continuing your goals!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Yes, I loved reading about her all spring long. 🙂
Buffy Silverman
Ha–spring break turned to spring made me smile. Those books look like a lot to tackle. I remember reading The Bell Jar when I was young, probably high school, probably a lot of it went over my head. You are inspiring me to look for her poems. Love the swish soundtrack in your haiku.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Thank you, Buffy! After reading the next book LAST CONFESSION OF SYLVIA P, I also want to read THE BELL JAR.
Mary Lee
What a goal! What a commitment! What an inspiration you are!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Aww, thanks, Mary Lee!
Elisabeth
What a fascinating project! I love the idea of reading the biography in parallel with her collected poems – I imagine that each enriches the experience of reading the other. And I love the language in your poem “Water-swish soundtrack” made me feel like I was reading next to a stream, too.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
I actually loved reading the poems in parallel. I’m hoping maybe I can do it again, if I find the right bio and the right poet.
Bridget Magee
The water-swish of the river is a great soundtrack to your Sylvia accomplishments (love your reworded goal! 🙂 )
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Thank you, Bridget!
PATRICIA J FRANZ
There’s something incredible to contrast the 900 page tome with your beautiful, concise haiku! Hope you’re enjoying that last book!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
I DID enjoy the last book. More to come on that one.
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