My life closed twice before its close—
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to meSo huge, so hopeless to conceive
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.
—Emily Dickinson.
“One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted –” by Emily Dickinson:
One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted —
One need not be a House —
The Brain has Corridors — surpassing
Material Place —Far safer, of a Midnight Meeting
External Ghost
Than its interior Confronting —
That Cooler Host.Far safer, through an Abbey gallop,
The Stones a’chase —
Than Unarmed, one’s a’self encounter —
In lonesome Place —Ourself behind ourself, concealed —
Should startle most —
Assassin hid in our Apartment
Be Horror’s least.The Body — borrows a Revolver —
He bolts the Door —
O’erlooking a superior spectre —
Or More —
“I reason, Earth is short–” by Emily Dickinson:
I reason, Earth is short —
And Anguish — absolute —
And many hurt,
But, what of that?I reason, we could die —
The best Vitality
Cannot excel Decay,
But, what of that?I reason, that in Heaven —
Somehow, it will be even —
Some new Equation, given —
But, what of that?
A poem by Emily Dickinson:
A Wounded Deer—leaps highest—
I’ve heard the Hunter tell—
‘Tis but the Ecstasy of death—
And then the Brake is still!The Smitten Rock that gushes!
The trampled Steel that springs!
A Cheek is always redder
Just where the Hectic stings!Mirth is the Mail of Anguish
In which it Cautious Arm,
Lest anybody spy the blood
And “you’re hurt” exclaim!
“A Toad, can die of Light,” a poem by Emily Dickinson:
A Toad, can die of Light —
Death is the Common Right
Of Toads and Men —
Of Earl and Midge
The privilege —
Why swagger, then?
The Gnat’s supremacy is large as Thine —Life — is a different Thing —
So measure Wine —
Naked of Flask — Naked of Cask —
Bare Rhine —
Which Ruby’s mine
Here is the poem (sexy good times!)–
Wild Nights – Wild Nights!
Were I with thee
Wild Nights should be
Our luxury!Futile – the Winds –
To a Heart in port –
Done with the Compass –
Done with the Chart!Rowing in Eden –
Ah, the Sea!
Might I but moor – Tonight –
In Thee!
Emily Dickinson’s nativity poem, “The Savior must have been a docile Gentleman”–
The Savior must have been
A docile Gentleman—
To come so far so cold a Day
For little Fellowmen—The Road to Bethlehem
Since He and I were Boys
Was leveled, but for that ‘twould be
A rugged Billion Miles—
Bill Murray reads poems by Billy Collins, Lorine Niedecker, and Emily Dickinson to the workers who built the Poets House literary center in museum. The applause after “I dwell in possibility” is golden.
Biblioklept 