For Anne Sexton
Razor-thin laser slices
of monochromatic memories
tumble from the bed-sheets
embroidered with the lit tip
of an anguish cigarette
sending smoke signals
to ravenous readers
scrabbling voyeurs
confessing their delight
looming cutouts, stand ins for emotional
states shot in anamorphic cinemascope
with close-ups to distort the actors
each inscribing a tale
scar trail to the molten core
every recorded infraction upon
the paper of her persona
burned away mixing ash
with tears to erode any trace
of those cardboard faces
Chromapoetica 
This is wonderful.. the image of those cutouts becoming anemic and empty.. like fading sepia.. there is a pain in this that is even more evident than if it had been the flesh and body.. a little bit like the drama of a shadow-play becoming more real…
I agree. …looming cutouts, stand ins for emotional states …. like the masks we hide behind, the false fronts we show the world….so very painful is this poem.
The last stanza (plus one line) jolts me. Sad when a person’s persona is burned away….and that there is absolutely no trace remaining.
as this ends, it makes me think of her death… sad so many greats commit suicide… She is the PERFECT poet to write for this confessions prompt. I love her work dearly.
I like the internal rhyme in the first line…starts it off so powerfully 🙂
Your images are magnificent and brilliant!
Thank you so much for you writing this beautiful poem.
Mixing ash with tears – that was such a powerful write.
There is a haunting sadness beneath those cardboard faces ~ I specially like this part Anna ~
each inscribing a tale
scar trail to the molten core
every recorded infraction upon
its a sad life…surrounded by cut outs and cardboard faces….nothing really real….tight job on the internal rhyme…gives this a real cool flow anna
That’s such a sad truth here and I love the movement of the smoke and the emotive ending in ash and tears.
there’s such pain in this.. wonderful images to make it visible to the reader
Tears and ash. What a brilliant piece! The pain and anguish was elemental.
Oh my…. I just love every word of this, and the sound, its music and cadence, is simply amazing. Anne Sexton has long been a favorite of mine as well. 🙂
Where do we draw the line with our poetic confessionals? Anne won a Pulitzer, yet her personal anguish never seemed to ebb much; a little like Plath in that regard. You touch on so much with this piece, how at times we do seem surrounded by one dimensional beings, false fronts, empty shells; like waking up to a dystopian day, where bleakness replaced sincerity, where cardboard replaced flesh; outstanding disturbing piece.
Wow, brilliant! Love the way you use language, sound, metaphor, image…really well done!
A stunning piece of work Anna – such imagery