AnneSextonEH

Anne Sexton (1928-1974) by Emmerson Hallerson



Anne sexton was an American poet who lived from 1928 to 1974. She was a woman who everyone thought was unstoppable. She attended Garland Junior College for only one year and at the young age of nineteen married Alfred Sexton. She then took up modeling before she became pregnant with her daughter. After she had her daughter in 1954, she was diagnosed with postpartum depression and suffered from her first mental breakdown. Despite her mental struggles she had her second daughter in 1955, however after her second mental breakdown and she was hospitalized again. Her daughters were sent to live with her in-laws and Anne continued in a downward spiral attempting to commit suicide on her next birthday. She continued to write poetry through all of this, and most of her poems are actually based upon her struggles mentally. She lost her battle with mental illness in 1974, when she killed herself with carbon monoxide in her garage at the young age of just 46.

**Welcome Morning** There is joy in all: in the hair I brush each morning, in the Cannon towel, newly washed, that I rub my body with each morning, in the chapel of eggs I cook each morning, in the outcry from the kettle that heats my coffee each morning, in the spoon and the chair that cry "hello there, Anne" each morning, in the godhead of the table that I set my silver, plate, cup upon each morning.

All this is God, right here in my pea-green house each morning and I mean, though often forget, to give thanks, to faint down by the kitchen table in a prayer of rejoicing as the holy birds at the kitchen window peck into their marriage of seeds.

So while I think of it, let me paint a thank-you on my palm for this God, this laughter of the morning, lest it go unspoken.

The Joy that isn't shared, I've heard, dies young.

~ Anne Sexton ~

This poem, “Welcome Morning,” is basically Anne just explaining her morning routine. She tells about what she does in the morning and how she sees God in everything. Going on to explain how she often forgets to say thank you to God for everything he had given to her. She says “so while i think of it, let me paint a thank-you on my palm” she is thanking God here and explaining how grateful she truly is for everything he has given her.

[|Reading of Anne's Poem Welcome Morning]
 * Here is a clip of a Rabi reading Anne Sexton's poem Welcome Morning!**