The It Doesn't Matter Suit and Other Stories, Page 3

  Of an Eskimo.

  A North-Pole Bed

  Is made of fur.

  It’s fine if you’re

  An ex-plor-er,

  Or if you just

  Have a very cold nose.

  There’s a built-in oven

  To warm your toes.

  O who cares much

  If a Bed’s big or small

  Or lumpy and bumpy –

  Who cares at all

  As long as its springs

  Are bouncy and new.

  From a Bounceable Bed

  You bounce into the blue –

  Over the hollyhocks

  (Toodle-oo!)

  Over the owls’

  To-whit-to-whoo,

  Over the moon

  To Timbuktoo

  With springier springs

  Than a kangaroo.

  You can see if the Big Dipper’s

  Full of stew,

  And you may want to stay

  Up a week or two.

  These are the Beds

  For me and for you!

  These are the Beds

  To climb into:

  Pocket-size Beds

  And Beds for Snacks,

  Tank Beds, Beds

  On Elephant Backs,

  Beds that fly,

  Or go under water,

  Bouncy Beds, Beds

  You can Spatter and Spotter,

  Bird-Watching Beds,

  Beds for zero weather –

  Any kind of Bed

  As long as it’s rather

  Special and queer

  And full of surprises –

  Beds of amazing

  Shapes and sizes,

  NOT just a white little

  Tucked-in-tight little

  Nighty-night little

  Turn-out-the-light little Bed!

  About the Author

  Sylvia Plath (1932–63) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied at Smith College. In 1955 she went to Cambridge University on a Fulbright scholarship, where she met and later married Ted Hughes. She published one collection of poems in her lifetime, The Colossus (1960), and a novel, The Bell Jar (1963). Her Collected Poems, which contains her poetry written from 1956 until her death, was published in 1981 and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

  Copyright

  This collection first published in 2001 by

  Faber & Faber Ltd, Bloomsbury House,

  74–77 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DA

  This ebook edition first published in 2014

  The Bed Book was first published in 1976

  The It-Doesn’t-Matter Suit was first published in 1996

  Mrs Cherry’s Kitchen was first published in 2001

  All rights reserved

  The Bed Book © Frieda and Nicholas Hughes, 1976

  The It-Doesn’t-Matter Suit © Frieda and Nicholas Hughes, 1996

  Mrs Cherry’s Kitchen © Frieda and Nicholas Hughes, 2001

  Illustrations © David Roberts, 2001

  Cover design by Faber; illustration by David Roberts

  The right of Sylvia Plath to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  The right of David Roberts to be identified as illustrator of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

  ISBN 978–0–571–31465–2