Janet Malcolm

Interview with Janet Malcolm

“The transgressive
nature of biography
is rarely acknowledged,
but it is the only
explanation for
biography’s status as
a popular genre.”
—Janet Malcolm,
The Silent Woman

I tracked down—Janet Malcolm
A New Yorker writer—with a svelte
Psychoanalytical—poetic persuasion
Plus she was—very beautiful

I wondered why—people who talked
About Sylvia Plath—talked that way
I was interested—in why there were
So many unreliable—Narrators

Some lied—to cover things up
While others—hedged their bets
And kept their—mouths tightly shut
Fearing—the Hughes Estate Witch

I was interested—in Janet Malcolm
And why she wrote—Silent Woman
As if each interview—was a soiree
A dialog with—some Ouija entity

She suggested—that I interview
Jacqueline Rose—who was into
Post-structuralism—having written
The Haunting—of Sylvia Plath

But I ended up—where I began
Lost in Pale Fire—a Nabokovian
Labyrinth of—Zemblan queens and

Shady guys—playing ping-pong!!!