“Teeth like tombstones,” I said,
“Do you see nothing eerie in that?”
She shook her head. I wondered,
had she read the book. With a shy
look, she said, “I liked Esther:”
I was impressed. But why had she
not picked up upon the rest, the
atmosphere of sick decay, the dark
ceiling without a star?
Sometimes we impose our thoughts
upon the young. Why should not she
see the whole book as an exciting story?
Nothing gory. Not a bit depressed.
She’d rather missed the message.
But who’s to say? The facts of
Ms Plath’s life are too well known
pared to the white of bone:
And this girl had shown how life
Is so much happier, without
the cruel knife, the sad domestic strife.