for Sylvia Plath

toofastblackcar
                    too fast

to be replaced by one so much
more beautiful         of course it killed her

(what you get, for trying to be a cupcake)

let sparrows harry the raptor
let murderess dip her blade

of grass in perfume

every twisting strand of hair   

     	a rope could save
or hang you

we have some things to work on mentally—

of course : a phrase we usually won’t need

clearly   generally : iceberg lettuce of the language

Broadway star hawked coffee in recovery

        of course in general coffee makes you

pretty        meet me at the Church of the Immaculate
Virgin     
  corner of Beaver and Cherry

toofastblackcar! 
		        
Flagstaff, I told you so     if you’re rich
you don’t have to be friendly     

     is anything better now?

at the time she died, even the literati
thought arugula was a weed