Salome is the name of the woman associated with the responsibility of ordering the beheading of John the Baptist; Duffy reimagines the story with a new take on her motives and in a new time environment. Though it is called ‘Salome’ the poem’s point of view is not revealed at the beginning; that is, it is not clear if the person that so speaks is a man or a woman which, obviously, influences what is to be thought about what follows.

The first two lines of the poem seem influenced by Sylvia Plath’s “Lady Lazarus.” Duffy says “I’d done it before (and doubtless I’ll do it again, sooner or later)” (Duffy 1), whereas Plath says “I have done it again. / One year in every ten / I manage it—“(Plath 1). This comparison, almost invisible for the untrained eye sets the mood of the poem, encasing it within the biblical period.

By the same token, after these first introductory lines, the poem starts with a categorical statement “woke up with a head on the pillow beside” (Duffy 1) next comes a string of descriptions, intended to serve as a picture of the aforementioned head. The third stanza gives insight on the narrator point of view, with it and the previous one we can identify the narrator as a woman, as the woman named Salome; the passing of time returns after the brief stop in the second stanza with its influx of descriptions and there is movement and, in the final stanza, there is recognition of the first statement, where Salome, flaunted by her unrequited desire realizes again what had happened: she sees John’s severed head beside her. Now, passionless and jaded, Salome faces the lifeless, glintless eyes of the prophet whose death she ordered.

Salome’s thoughts on the action committed are clear from the first stanza, she does not care about the victims of her actions, her answering of a question with a new question shows this. The string of descriptions hides important insights, the indented ‘of course’ between commas shows that Salome’s objectives must obligatorily comply with the characteristic of being good looking; the mention of the lighter beard shows her attention to detail. She not only ordered the prophet’s death because she hated his spread of religion. She also desired him. She had memorized his body and could describe it with a myriad of details. His face, his beard. The lips. Everything.

However, her attention to detail diminishes when it comes to recognition of emotions, as they are inscribed on the head’s face, the doubt expressed with “. . . from pain, I’d guess, maybe laughter” (Duffy 2) is immediately forgotten with a concession to physical qualities. This second stanza greatly expresses Duffy’s intention of portraying Salome’s actions through a different perspective, her motivations appears mostly carnal. Her doubt is diminished in the face and recollection of desire. The tone of the poem expresses it with its fast paced rhythm followed by succession of questions, they show Salome’s thought process, her impetuous desire that finally leads to action and then, to doubt.

Third stanza’s sudden movement, characterized by the diverse uses of words alluding to cacophony –clatter, clutter– contrast with Salome’s state, she was ‘hungover and wrecked’, movement, though external, was what she needed to wake and, in doing so, clear her doubts. The cacophony of sounds described with the movements of the maid, the time that passes fast when not in her own world of carnal satisfaction; nonetheless, Salome has a clear mind as long as it is something that she wishes for: her order for the maid ‘. . . tea, dry toast, no butter’ is fast and clear, without a speck of doubt. Her ‘Never again!’ said with such force, followed by a flutter of resolute decisions and a strong ‘Yes’ in the middle of it imply a sudden decision, something that is in accordance with a person moved solely on the base of wanting.

There are no comparisons or metaphors, Duffy’s language and expressionism in the poem is frankly direct, as is Salome’s connection to her desires: filterless; language appears transparent, words mean exactly what they mean and the poem carries a speed similar to a burgeoning desire. Questions follow questions in a marked rhythm and rhyme is constant through all the text with an intonation that adds to the sense of speed. This tension is evident since the beginning of the text where a statement is simply offered to the reader with no further explanations.

Moreover, it picks up pace in the second stanza as doubt creeps up during Salome’s almost lascivious descriptions. Uncertainty keeps increasing when names are offered one after the other, making the reader ask himself how many times had Salome gone through this. The explosion of movement in the third stanza is actually a refreshment for what is to come; Salome’s decisions on the fourth are a covering for her revelation. Duffy wanted to show through this method of writing the intensity of an overflowing desire, its fast paced rhythm that leads to a recognition marked in blood red and a smile.

A slow reading of the text appears difficult or, at least, challenging, the tension that is felt during a fast reading is, most likely, what Duffy felt at the time of writing it, a tension she chose to transmit with constant rhymes and fast rhythm and a lightly erotic tone.