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| from collage by Laura Kennedy |
I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
-Sylvia Plath
Oh, such a doomed woman,
but still,
I love Sylvia Plath.
She was doomed by her love for Ted Hughes
and doomed by brain chemistry
that today doctors would want to fix.
And yet, I wonder:
Would she have been able to write
such passionate poetry
if she'd been "on meds?"
Real literary genius
takes more than a touch of madness
but that's something we
"fix"
today.
Wondering who's creating anything
this wonderfully wild
or if these days
all writers and poets
are numbed into oblivion?
Interesting thought. Love the Alice in Wonderland quote:)
ReplyDeleteI read a piece by writer recently, where she noted that she completely lost the ideas, ability and motivation to write once medicated for Bipolar Disorder. And that it was a choice she made in order to 'be sane' 'keep boyfriend' etc etc. Bipolar was her muse; medicated the muse was gone.
ReplyDelete"brain chemistry that today doctors would want to fix" - shudder at the thought, and the justifications that would be used, e.g. 'improving quality of life', etc. Conveniently ignoring the large number of people who's quality of life is further diminished, of course.