Only my books anoint me, and a few friends, those who reach into my veins.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of deep connections with both literature and close friends.
Anne Sexton's quote reflects the profound influence of her books and a select group of friends on her life. She suggests that the true essence of her identity and worth comes not from societal validation but from the intimate bonds formed through literature and deep friendship, highlighting the power of emotional connections that penetrate the soul.
In practice
This quote may be shared during a literary discussion about the impact of books on personal identity.
The Witch's Life" When I was a child there was an old woman in our neighborhood whom we called The Witch. All day she peered from her second story window from behind the wrinkled curtains and sometimes she would open the window and yell: Get out of my life! She had hair like kelp and a voice like a boulder. I think of her sometimes now and wonder if I am becoming her.
Do you like me?” No answer. Silence bounced, fell off his tongue and sat between us and clogged my throat. It slaughtered my trust. It tore cigarettes out of my mouth. We exchanged blind words, and I did not cry, I did not beg, but blackness filled my ears, blackness lunged in my heart, and something that had been good, a sort of kindly oxygen, turned into a gas oven.
Don't bite till you know if it's bread or stone.
Abundance is scooped from abundance yet abundance remains.
I find now, swallowing one teaspoon of pain, that it drops downward to the past where it mixes with last year’s cupful and downward into a decade’s quart and downward into a lifetime’s ocean. I alternate treading water and deadman’s float.
I am your dwarf. I am the enemy within. I am the boss of your dreams. See. Your hand shakes. It is not palsy or booze. It is your Doppelganger trying to get out. Beware...Beware...
It is only with the companionship of the Holy Ghost that we can hope to be equally yoked in a marriage free from discord. I have seen how that companionship is crucial for felicity in a marriage. The miracle of becoming one requires the help of heaven, and it takes time.
O men with sisters dear, O men with mothers and wives, It is not linen you 're wearing out, But human creatures' lives!
With cats, some say, one rule is true: Don't speak till you are spoken to.
Few things in life are more embarrassing than the necessity of having to inform an old friend that you have just got engaged to his fiancee.
People are not as nice as they used to be. There used to be a time when we conversed. You don't get a lot of real responses now. They used to be more polite and well-mannered people, generally. It's minimal now.
The more specific you are about a very general feeling of loneliness is actually how you connect with people.
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