Strumpet Song

"Vanity Fair"

Strumpet Song written by Sylvia Plath

"Tinker Jack and the Tidy Wives"

Poem composed in 1956, entry 15 in The Collected Poems, edited by Ted Hughes. Originally published in The Colossus and Other Poems (London, 1960 and New York City, 1962).

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Strumpet Song With white frost gone And all green dreams not worth much, After a lean day's work Time comes round for that foul slut: Mere bruit of her takes our street Until every man, Red, pale or dark, Veers to her slouch. Mark, I cry, that mouth Made to do violence on, That seamed face Askew with blotch, dint, scar Struck by each dour year. Walks there not some such one man As can spare breath To patch with brand of love this rank grimace Which out from black tarn, ditch and cup Into my most chaste own eyes Looks up.   1956