Poetry in Motion
New York
I Am Vertical
Sylvia Plath![A white horizontal poster with a mosaic at the top features a poem titled I am Vertical, by Sylvia Plath.](https://poetrysociety.org/assets/poetry-in-motion/Sylvia-Plath-NYC-Poetry-in-Motion.jpeg)
I am vertical
But I would rather be horizontal.
I am not a tree with my root in the soil
Sucking up minerals and motherly love
So that each March I may gleam into leaf,
Nor am I the beauty of a garden bed
Attracting my share of Ahs and spectacularly painted,
Unknowing I must soon unpetal.
Compared with me, a tree is immortal
And a flower-head not tall, but more startling,
And I want the one’s longevity and the other’s daring.