Emboldened by sharing, briefly, the same
publisher as Frieda Hughes, I looked up
an article on her latest collection, found
a photo of her living room, which seemed
welcoming, well-ordered, English-cosy,
complete with three Maltesers and a live
rehabilitating owl, like something utterly
seductive from Alison Uttley. I thought
of Plath describing ‘owl-talons’ of depression
‘clenching’ her heart, remembered my
view that Plath’s writing is political,
its context the savage US Empire
of the 50s and 60s, hence its citing
the execution of the Rosenbergs at the start
of  The Bell Jar, the fears of US
expansion in her diaries. The metaphors
about Nazis in her poems are more
about Nazis than about those who
she compared the Nazis to. In balance,
she is often housey and cosy, which
out of context seems Not-Feminist, but
in context is sane microcosming
amidst punitive systems of power.
She painted furniture, did craft
and decorated cottages and rooms,
___________bright like
the make-up in The Bell Jar, desperate
for humanity and control. If you
slid out of line they electrocuted you
like Julius and Ethel, if you tried to
appease them with neat suicide, save
anything,
they burned out your nerves with power,
_____________if
they spied that your heart misgave.