As listed below

Sylvia Plath reads "Daddy"

Daddy

You do not do, you do not do
Any more, black shoe
In which I have lived like a foot
For thirty years, poor and white,
Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.

Daddy, I have had to kill you.
You died before I had time---
Marble-heavy, a bag full of God,
Ghastly statue with one gray toe
Big as a Frisco seal

And a head in the freakish Atlantic
Where it pours bean green over blue
In the waters off the beautiful Nauset.
I used to pray to recover you.
Ach, du.

In the German tongue, in the Polish town
Scraped flat by the roller
Of wars, wars, wars.
But the name of the town is common.
My Polack friend

Says there are a dozen or two.
So I never could tell where you
Put your foot, your root,
I never could talk to you.
The tongue stuck in my jaw.

It stuck in a barb wire snare.
Ich, ich, ich, ich,
I could hardly speak.
I thought every German was you.
And the language obscene

An engine, an engine,
Chuffing me off like a Jew.
A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.
I began to talk like a Jew.
I think I may well be a Jew.

The snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna
Are not very pure or true.
With my gypsy ancestress and my weird luck
And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack
I may be a bit of a Jew.

I have always been sacred of you,
With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo.
And your neat mustache
And your Aryan eye, bright blue.
Panzer-man, panzer-man, O You----

Not God but a swastika
So black no sky could squeak through.
Every woman adores a Fascist,
The boot in the face, the brute
Brute heart of a brute like you.

You stand at the blackboard, daddy,
In the picture I have of you,
A cleft in your chin instead of your foot
But no less a devil for that, no not
Any less the black man who

Bit my pretty red heart in two.
I was ten when they buried you.
At twenty I tried to die
And get back, back, back to you.
I thought even the bones would do.

But they pulled me out of the sack,
And they stuck me together with glue.
And then I knew what to do.
I made a model of you,
A man in black with a Meinkampf look

And a love of the rack and the screw.
And I said I do, I do.
So daddy, I'm finally through.
The black telephone's off at the root,
The voices just can't worm through.

If I've killed one man, I've killed two---
The vampire who said he was you
And drank my blood for a year,
Seven years, if you want to know.
Daddy, you can lie back now.

There's a stake in your fat black heart
And the villagers never liked you.
They are dancing and stamping on you.
They always knew it was you.
Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through.

Three poems by Charles Bukowski

Cloud 9
I Live in a Neighborhood of Murder
Two Horse Collars






















To listen to the poems please click here:
Three poems by Charles Bukowski
Recorded at MCCC-TV Studio, Detroit, Oct. 31, 1974


I live in a neighbourhood of murder

I live in a neighbourhood of murder
even the roaches spit out
paperclips
and the helicopter circles and circles
smelling for blood
searchlights leering down into our
bedroom

5 guys in this court have pistols
another a
machete
we are all murderers and
alcoholics
but there are worse in the hotel
across the street
they sit in the green and and white doorway
banal and depraved
waiting to be institutionalized

here we each have a small green plant
in the window
and when we fight with our women at 3 a.m.
we speak
softly
and on each porch
is a small dish of food
always eaten by morning
we presume by the cats.

Frühling 1946 (Für Cordelia)

Holde Anemone,
bist du wieder da
und erscheinst mit heller Krone
mir Geschundenem zum Lohne
wie Nausikaa?
 
Windbewegtes Bücken,
Woge, Schaum und Licht!
Ach, welch sphärisches Entzücken
nahm dem staubgebeugten Rücken
endlich sein Gewicht?
 
Aus dem Reich der Kröte
steige ich empor,
unterm Lid noch Plutons Röte
und des Totenführers Flöte
gräßlich noch im Ohr.
 
Sah in Gorgos Auge
eisenharten Glanz,
ausgesprühte Lügenlauge
hört‘ ich flüstern, daß sie tauge
mich zu töten ganz.
 
Anemone! Küssen
laß mich dein Gesicht:
Ungespiegelt von den Flüssen
Styx und Lethe, ohne Wissen
um das Nein und Nicht.
 
Ohne zu verführen,
lebst und bist du da,
still mein Herz zu rühren,
ohne es zu schüren -
Kind Nausikaa!



Spring 1946

Sweet Anemone,
...

Translation into English © Elmar Driver



Anmerkungen

Anemone oder Buschwindröschen bezeichnet eine krautige Pflanze, die 10 bis 25 Zentimeter hoch wird. Zur Blütezeit zwischen März und April/Mai fehlen grundständige Blätter, jedoch sitzen am Stängel in einem Quirl (Wirtel) drei deutlich gestielte, jeweils dreiteilige, in ihren Abschnitten zwei- bis dreispaltige Hochblätter. In der Regel entwickelt das Buschwindröschen nur eine Blüte (selten: zwei) pro Pflanze. Diese besteht aus sechs bis acht (selten: zwölf) weißen, manchmal leicht rosa getönten Perigonblättern und zahlreichen Staubblättern.

Nausikaa ist in der griechischen Mythologie die Tochter des phäakischen Königs Alkinoos. Nach Homers "Odyssee" findet Nausikaa am Strand einen Fremden, der offensichtlich Schiffbruch erlitten hat. Nausikaa bringt den zunächst unbekannten Fremden an den Hof, wo er sich während des Gastmahls als Odysseus zu erkennen gibt.

Der römische Gott Pluto (griechisch Πλούτον[ας], Plúton[as]) ist der Gott der Totenwelt in der Erdtiefe und entspricht weitgehend dem griechischen Gott Hades.

Die Gorgonen (griechisch γοργόνες, gorgónes, Singular die Gorgone oder Gorgo, griechisch Γοργώ, gorgó) sind in der griechischen Mythologie drei geflügelte Schreckgestalten mit Schlangenhaaren, die jeden, der sie anblickt, zu Stein erstarren lassen. Sie sind die Töchter des Phorkys und der Keto. Die Gorgonen sind Stheno (Stheino), Euryale und Medusa. Medusa ist die einzige Sterbliche unter ihnen und wurde von Perseus enthauptet. Der Kopf dieser Gorgone wurde der Göttin Athene gebracht. Zahlreiche Motive der Athene zeigen sie mit der Aigis und Gorgonenhaupt auf ihrer Brust.

Styx (Στyξ, Fluss des Hasses, im Griechischen weiblich wie nur ganz wenige Flüsse) ist in der griechischen Mythologie neben Acheron, Lethe, Kokytos, Phlegethon und Eridanus ein Fluss der Unterwelt und eine Flussgöttin, Tochter des Okeanos und der Tethys. Entsprechend der Sage stellt der Styx die Grenze zwischen der Welt der Lebenden und dem Totenreich Hades dar. Er umfließt den Hades neun Mal. Die Seelen der Toten werden von Charon, dem Fährmann, über den Styx geschifft. Deshalb wurde den Toten eine Münze mitgegeben, damit sie den Fährmann Charon bezahlen konnten.

Die Lethe (von griech. "das Vergessen") ist ein Gewässer aus der griechischen Mythologie. Es bezeichnet einen Fluss oder eine Quelle in der Unterwelt, woraus die Seelen der Verstorbenen das Vergessen trinken. (Wikipedia)



Notes

Anemone nemorosa is an early-spring flowering plant in the Genus Anemone. Common names include wood anemone, windflower, European thimbleweed and smell fox). It is a perennial herbaceous plant, growing in early spring to 5-15 cm tall, and dying back down to the root-like rhizomes by mid summer. The rhizomes, that spread just below the earth surface, grow quickly, contributing to its rapid spread in woodland conditions, where it can carpet large areas. The flower is 2 cm diameter, with six or seven petal-like segments (actually tepals). In the wild the flowers are usually white, but may be pinkish, lilac or blue, and often have a darker tint to the back of the 'petals'. It does not have a scent, and little nectar, since it does not rely very much on pollination by insects for reproduction. The plant is poisonous to humans, but has been used as a medicine.

In ancient Greek literature, Nausicaa (often rendered Nausicaä; Greek: Ναυσικάα), a daughter of King Alcinous (Alkínoös) of the Phaeacians and Queen Arete, appears in Homer's Odyssey (odysseía). The maiden Nausicaa finds the shipwrecked Odysseus on the shore of Scheria and brings him to her father: Homer gives a fine literary account of love never expressed. A substantial portion of the Odyssey consists of Odysseus recounting his adventures to Alcinous and his guests. Alcinous then generously provides Odysseus with the ships that finally bring him home to Ithaca. According to Aristotle and to Dictys of Crete, Nausicaa married Telemachus, Odysseus' son, and together they had a son named Perseptolis or Ptoliporthus.

Pluto is an alternate name for the Greek god Hades, but was more often used in Roman mythology in their presentation of the god of the underworld. He abducted Proserpina (Gr. Persephone), and her mother Ceres (Gr. Demeter) caused winter in her grief. He kidnapped Persephone so he could marry her. In later times he was largely seen as synonymous with the Greek god of the underworld Hades. Although often envisioned today as evil (due to the fact of his similarities to the Christian demon Satan), the Romans did not view him as such.

In Greek mythology, the Gorgons ("terrible" or, according to some, "loud-roaring") were vicious female monsters with sharp fangs and hair of living, venomous snakes.

In Greek mythology, Styx (Στυξ, "[river of] unbreakable oath") is the name of a river which formed the boundary between earth and the underworld, Hades. It circles Hades nine times. Styx and Phlegethon, Acheron and Cocytus converge at the center of Hades on a great marsh. The other important rivers of Hades are Lethe and Eridanos. The Buddhist version of this river is known as the river Sanzu.Styx is guarded by Phlegyas, who passes the souls from one side to another of the river. In other versions, Phlegyas guards Phlegethon, another of the main rivers of Hades.

In Classical Greek, Lethe literally means "forgetfulness" or "concealment". The Greek word for "truth" is a-lethe-ia, meaning "un-forgetfulness" or "un-concealment".

In Greek mythology, Lethe is one of the several rivers of Hades. Drinking from the river Lethe ("forgetfulness" or "oblivion") caused complete forgetfulness. Some ancient Greeks believed that souls were made to drink from the river before being reincarnated, so they would not remember their past lives. (Wikipedia)