paper three ladies and gentleman

ok people. the time has come. as i am a senior english major- and as the semester nears it's end it is time to think about my third paper. I would like to write about an idea that is prevalent in emily's work. a theme, if you will. moreoever, I would like to pick a question that Emily asks herself. I think i am interested in related Adrienne Riche's poetry to Dickinson and examining the idea of the two selves- and ultimately the relationship between Dickinson and sanity. Riche suggests that because people told Emily that she was insane- it is possible that having all those around you question your sanity could lead one to feel unsure of themselves.

like emily - a poem inspired by her writing

"to watch a creature that has been underground"

"because like many other hopeful debutante they have been hoaxed

and hocused-pocussed"

because there's always time to waste

and never some to focus

because we miss to many mornings being tired

too many nights being weary

we delve many deluge in delusion

and we pour days being hot

never soaking up the falling leaves

only wondering when they'll stop

til the sweat drops down our foreheads

and we numb into release

the time for contemplation

was passed by a few weeks



i'm too busy

i'm too tired

and he never returns my calls

in my absence i am missed

and missed by life and awe



when the trees are naked

and the skies clammed grey with doubt

we can wonder why we move about

and why we dress in clout

i think i'll care more for finding a serious occupation

when wars and hunger don't streak across our nation

am i missing the point

in trying to find it

and ignoring the faces

who line up beside us?



and when courageous artists rip

holes in the iron curtain

we can ask ourselves,

well was it worth it?

Here she is!

I wonder what she is thinking. Sometimes, Perhaps in fascicle 15- I think I know what she's talking about. A brief glimpse or a fleeting whim that perhaps we are on the same page.

Then I read fascicle 33. And I am left asking myself all over again, who were you and what are your thoughts?

Sometimes I wish she had explained herself in footnotes or in an anthology discussing her anthology.

Sometimes I am glad I don't know.

A Dickinson Lament

I wrote and recorded a small EP for my class. I thought I would post the lyrics here and eventually (hopefully) the songs themselves. All the music is original and the lyrics to an unreturned letter are as well. The other 4 are Dickinson poems.

The tracks are as follows:

1. 1535

She could not live

upon the past

the present

did not know her

and so she sought

this sweet at last

and nature

gently owned her

the mother

has not a knell

for either duke

or robin

2. Love Sense

The incidents of love

are more than its events-

investments best expositor

is the minute per the cents-

3. Maker

My maker

Let me be

Enamored

Most of thee

But nearer this

I more should miss-

4. Nobody

I'm nobody

who are you

are you nobody too

Then there's a pair of us

Don't tell

They'd advertise

you know

How dreary to be somebody

How public like a frog

mmmm

mmmm

mmmm

mmmm

How dreary to be somebody

How public like a frog

To tell one's name

the live long day

to an admiring bog

I'm nobody

Who are you

Are you nobody too?

Then there's a pair of us

Don't tell

They'd advertise

you know

oooooh

5. An Unreturned Letter

You don't want to walk anymore

You don't feel the same as before

And the things I know you adore

Are not the same as they were

But the birds

and the streets

and the cars

and the trees

are all the same as before

I don't want to run through the woods

I don't want to stand

where you stood

So the fall is bringing the leaves

And I am leaving in peace

And the birds

and the streets

and the cars

and the trees

are all the same as they were.