Anne Sexton - Iyengar III, Oct 19th

I was so excited about Louise Glück’s Nobel win, and then a student let me know there had been a Twitter backlash against he win because she is not “nice”? This sent my into an emotional tailspin, talking to myself out loud and everything. Honestly, I went from annoyed - to offended - to angry! What does “nice” have to do with being a supremely talented writer? I know there is chatter about every Nobel lit winner, but really “nice”?! Would a man be criticized for not being “nice” in this context? I love “kind”. We should strive to be kind, but “nice”? We are called “not nice”, when we stand up for ourselves, or others, or our ideals. Don’t buy into “nice”. Be kind. You’ll be in good company.

Reading other poets this week who have been accused of not being “nice”…

YOUNG

A thousand doors ago

when I was a lonely kid

in a big house with four

garages and it was summer

as long as I could remember,

I lay on the lawn at night,

clover wrinkling under me,

the wise stars bedding over me,

my mother's window a funnel

of yellow heat running out,

my father's window, half shut,

an eye where sleepers pass,

and the boards of the house

were smooth and white as wax

and probably a million leaves

sailed on their strange stalks

as the crickets ticked together

and I, in my brand new body, which was not a woman's yet,

told the stars my questions

and thought God could really see

the heat and the painted light,

elbows, knees, dreams, goodnight.