Poem - "An Appearance" by Sylvia Plath

"An Appearance" 
by Sylvia Plath



The smile of iceboxes annihilates me.

Such blue currents in the veins of my loved one!
I hear her great heart purr.

From her lips ampersands and percent signs

Exit like kisses.
It is Monday in her mind: morals

Launder and present themselves.

What am I to make of these contradictions?
I wear white cuffs, I bow.

Is this love then, this red material

Issuing from the steele needle that flies so blindingly?
It will make little dresses and coats,

It will cover a dynasty.

How her body opens and shuts -
A Swiss watch, jeweled in the hinges!

O heart, such disorganization!

The stars are flashing like terrible numerals.
ABC, her eyelids say.