Poppies in October

The poem Poppies in October starts by drawing a comparison by sun-clouds and a woman in an ambulance.  The red heart of the woman in the ambulance blooms through her coat. The comparison is about both the sun-clouds and the woman in the ambulance not being able to manage "such skirts."

Her red heart is a love gift that the sky does not ask for. 

Carbon monoxide is a poisonous fume let out by automobiles. When the red heart blooms poisonous fumes are lit by the red heart or the sky. Perhaps the sky's annoyance is the fume. 

Bowlers are people who play the game of bowling. The carbon monoxide is ignited by eyes dulled by bowlers or people who play this game. 

Suddenly Plath exclaims to herself because she finds herself in a forest of frost; in a dawn of cornflowers. She exclaims that the late mouths are crying in this forest of frost and dawn of corn flowers. Late could refer to mouths that are no longer mouths. Mouths that are no more. Yet they cry in a forest of frost or in the dawn of cornflowers.