tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016863230532205673.post1382493272148021141..comments2023-12-10T07:07:56.884+00:00Comments on the swiss lounge: anne sextonswisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924594772578153947noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016863230532205673.post-16308743073574437562010-01-24T13:19:39.532+00:002010-01-24T13:19:39.532+00:00i did think of mommie dearest when this was on tho...i did think of mommie dearest when this was on tho in the context of sexton and her mother rather than in her relation ro her daughters. it being a half hour programme tho they couldn't cover that.<br /><br />as to someone lookingafter the children they were removed from sexton for the first three or four years of their lives, i think there's a poem int he programme about this, i can;t quite remember. these days we'd call it some sort of post natal dosorder and most likely treat it. not so back then tho. i kept thinking of that julianne moore film far from heaven and the restrictions and social codings imposed on these middle class american housewives.<br /><br />reading thru sexton's own words on the subject this comes thru again and again. aside from the whole mental health issue which she's in hospital for over and over, before and after the birth of her kids, she keeps returning to all her failings 'as a woman', mother, wife etc, the sort of stuff that never has been and most likely will never be placed on a man in a similar position. it's really quite tragicswisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17924594772578153947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016863230532205673.post-53333636851789094792010-01-20T14:44:11.251+00:002010-01-20T14:44:11.251+00:00Well, I did listen. 'Mommie Dearest - the poet...Well, I did listen. 'Mommie Dearest - the poet's cut' or what? And you know I'm only being flippant because it's hometime, right?<br /><br />I enjoyed some of the poetry - especially all that about being tired of being a woman (cue Shania Twain) but I found listening to the daughters a bit painful, to say the least. Just because someone writes confessionally doesn't mean we have to see every detail of their life, hear every word they ever said. And was no-one else around in the family to help the girls, was all I kept thinking (cycles of abuse and sadness and all that). Guess not - they still sound fairly battered by it all. <br /><br />I could go on and on. I won't.<br /><br />xRachel Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803852725693518924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016863230532205673.post-35475741517150707272010-01-20T08:37:29.699+00:002010-01-20T08:37:29.699+00:00i've been missing the misery on tv mainly beca...i've been missing the misery on tv mainly because i haven't been watching it and also because anything to do with haiti is so bleakly unintentionally ironic all i end up doing is shouting at the tv.<br /><br />not that the sexton thing was miserable. and certainly as sorlil points out she's one fo those rarities that can actually read her own poemsswisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17924594772578153947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016863230532205673.post-66527130287139831562010-01-19T00:24:02.458+00:002010-01-19T00:24:02.458+00:00I think she's the best reader of her own work ...I think she's the best reader of her own work of any poet I've heard, esp her reading of Her Kind which I really love.Marion McCreadyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04657757253873577465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9016863230532205673.post-31828165373831766952010-01-18T16:11:55.783+00:002010-01-18T16:11:55.783+00:00I'd seen it was on but wasn't in the mood ...I'd seen it was on but wasn't in the mood for someone else's misery with so much on the news. Maybe later this week...<br />xRachel Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803852725693518924noreply@blogger.com