Text of the Poem | You're By Sylvia Plath | Eureka Study Aids

1. Clownlike, happiest on your hands, 

2. Feet to the stars, and moon-skulled, 

3. Gilled like a fish. A common-sense

4. Thumbs-down on the dodo's mode. 

5. Wrapped up in yourself like a spool, 

6. Trawling your dark as owls do. 

7. Mute as a turnip from the Fourth

8. Of July to All Fools's Day, 

9. O high-riser, my litter loaf. 

10. Vague as fog and looked for like mail. 

11. Farther off than Australia. 

12. Bent-backed Atlas, our traveled prawn. 

13. Snug as a bud and at home

14. Like a sprat in a pickle jug. 

15. A creel of eels, all ripples. 

16. Jumpy as a Mexican bean. 

17. Right, like a well-done sum. 

18. A clean slate, with your own face on.