Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Phyllis McGinley: the alter ego to Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton

A balanced mix of humor, satire, and whimsy

  • The 5:32
  • She said, If tomorrow my world were torn in two,
  • Blacked out, dissolved, I think I would remember
  • (As if transfixed in unsurrendering amber)
  • This hour best of all the hours I knew:
  • When cars came backing into the shabby station,
  • Children scuffing the seats, and the women driving
  • With ribbons around their hair, and the trains arriving,
  • And the men getting off with tired but practiced motion.
  • Yes, I would remember my life like this, she said:
  • Autumn, the platform red with Virginia creeper,
  • And a man coming toward me, smiling, the evening paper
  • Under his arm, and his hat pushed back on his head;
  • And wood smoke lying like haze on the quiet town,
  • And dinner waiting, and the sun not yet gone down. 
  • Ballade of Lost Objects
  • Where are the ribbons I tie my hair with?
  • Where is my lipstick? Where are my hose —
  • The sheer ones hoarded these weeks to wear with
  • Frocks the closets do not disclose?
  • Perfumes, petticoats, sports chapeaus,
  • The blouse Parisian, the earrings Spanish —
  • Everything suddenly up and goes.
  • And where in the world did the children vanish?
  • This is the house I used to share with
  • Girls in pinafores, shier than does.
  • I can recall how they climbed my stairs with
  • Gales of giggles on their tiptoes.
  • Last seen wearing both braids and bows
  • (And looking rather Raggedy-Annish),
  • When they departed nobody knows —
  • Where in the world did the children vanish?
  • Two tall strangers, now I must bear with,
  • Decked in my personal furbelows,
  • Raiding the larder, rending the air with
  • Gossip and terrible radios.
  • Neither my friends nor quite my foes,
  • Alien, beautiful, stern and clannish,
  • Here they dwell, while the wonder grows:
  • Where in the world did the children vanish?
  • Prince, I warn you, under the rose,
  • Time is the thief you cannot banish.
  • These are my daughters, I suppose.
  • But where in the world did the children vanish?
  • Daylight Savings Time
  • In spring when maple buds are red,
  • We turn the clock an hour ahead;
  • Which means, each April that arrives,
  • We lose an hour out of our lives.
  • Who cares? When autumn birds in flocks 
  • Fly southward, back we turn the clocks,
  • And so regain a lovely thing 
  • That missing hour we lost in spring.
Phyllis McGinley

Phyllis McGinley (1905-1978) was an American poet whose works were infused with a balanced mix of humor, satire, and whimsy, especially in her treatment of suburban life. In 1961, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. A popular poet of her day, McGinley wrote for a wide range of periodicals, from the middlebrow Ladies Home Journal to the highbrow The New Yorker. Often seen as the alter ego of contemporary feminist poets such as Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton – whose works expressed a bitter dissatisfaction with domestic life, Phyllis McGinley embraced her life as a “housewife poet.” For McGinley, true power comes to a woman through her place as the germinating principle of the family structure – and criticized feminists of her day for accepting roles imposed on them by false masculine expectations.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Jazz guitarist Alex Ciavarelli pays tribute to pianist Oscar Peterson

“I had to extract the elements that spoke to me and realize them on my instrument”
Next Article

The Fellini of Clairemont High

When gang showers were standard for gym class
  • The 5:32
  • She said, If tomorrow my world were torn in two,
  • Blacked out, dissolved, I think I would remember
  • (As if transfixed in unsurrendering amber)
  • This hour best of all the hours I knew:
  • When cars came backing into the shabby station,
  • Children scuffing the seats, and the women driving
  • With ribbons around their hair, and the trains arriving,
  • And the men getting off with tired but practiced motion.
  • Yes, I would remember my life like this, she said:
  • Autumn, the platform red with Virginia creeper,
  • And a man coming toward me, smiling, the evening paper
  • Under his arm, and his hat pushed back on his head;
  • And wood smoke lying like haze on the quiet town,
  • And dinner waiting, and the sun not yet gone down. 
  • Ballade of Lost Objects
  • Where are the ribbons I tie my hair with?
  • Where is my lipstick? Where are my hose —
  • The sheer ones hoarded these weeks to wear with
  • Frocks the closets do not disclose?
  • Perfumes, petticoats, sports chapeaus,
  • The blouse Parisian, the earrings Spanish —
  • Everything suddenly up and goes.
  • And where in the world did the children vanish?
  • This is the house I used to share with
  • Girls in pinafores, shier than does.
  • I can recall how they climbed my stairs with
  • Gales of giggles on their tiptoes.
  • Last seen wearing both braids and bows
  • (And looking rather Raggedy-Annish),
  • When they departed nobody knows —
  • Where in the world did the children vanish?
  • Two tall strangers, now I must bear with,
  • Decked in my personal furbelows,
  • Raiding the larder, rending the air with
  • Gossip and terrible radios.
  • Neither my friends nor quite my foes,
  • Alien, beautiful, stern and clannish,
  • Here they dwell, while the wonder grows:
  • Where in the world did the children vanish?
  • Prince, I warn you, under the rose,
  • Time is the thief you cannot banish.
  • These are my daughters, I suppose.
  • But where in the world did the children vanish?
  • Daylight Savings Time
  • In spring when maple buds are red,
  • We turn the clock an hour ahead;
  • Which means, each April that arrives,
  • We lose an hour out of our lives.
  • Who cares? When autumn birds in flocks 
  • Fly southward, back we turn the clocks,
  • And so regain a lovely thing 
  • That missing hour we lost in spring.
Phyllis McGinley

Phyllis McGinley (1905-1978) was an American poet whose works were infused with a balanced mix of humor, satire, and whimsy, especially in her treatment of suburban life. In 1961, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. A popular poet of her day, McGinley wrote for a wide range of periodicals, from the middlebrow Ladies Home Journal to the highbrow The New Yorker. Often seen as the alter ego of contemporary feminist poets such as Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton – whose works expressed a bitter dissatisfaction with domestic life, Phyllis McGinley embraced her life as a “housewife poet.” For McGinley, true power comes to a woman through her place as the germinating principle of the family structure – and criticized feminists of her day for accepting roles imposed on them by false masculine expectations.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

How a Childhood Car Crash Created San Diego's Most Tenacious Personal Injury Lawyer

Next Article

Gonzo Report: Three nights of Mission Bayfest bring bliss

“This is a top-notch production.”
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader