I’m an exile! Who are you?

 

I found a site where you can write your own Emily Dickinson “I’m nobody! Who are you?” poem (mad lib style).

Here is Emily Dickinson’s version:

I’m nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us — don’t tell!
They’d banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

 

Here is mine (after some necessary fiddling):

I’m an exile! Who are you?
Are you an exile, too?
Then there’s a universe of us — don’t tell!
They’d colonize, you know.

How squandered to be somebody!
How gyred, like a cog
To yield your thoughts the livelong day
To an insatiable bog!

 

 

1777

The period’s so final - I prefer a dash -

A humble line to signify Continuance (perhaps) -

A Breath - a Pause - a Moment when

The line of Thought begins again -

And Spirals to a close.

 

I’m partial to the Upper Case -

The signal to Attend -

A homely Word - the Commonplace -

The Dew forged Diadem .

 

 

I wrote this as a tribute to Emily Dickinson and her unique style.

Her poems were numbered through 1775.

For Emily

A Swan in Sparrow’s feathers found -

Her Song was clearer - Hidden -

Beneath a crown of Chestnut bur

A veiled and satin Prison -

No Banquet for this exiled Bird -

Who sang to earn - the Crumbs - conferred

By Royalty of her Decree -

A sovereign state - a Debauchee

Of Dew - reigned from her own Circumference -

Unfastened Eden’s sweet - Wild Nights

Within - a Balm - a lamp - and paradise.

This is my letter to the cyberworld

Who writes to me from time to time.

Yes, I am a Dickinson fanatic and am currently procrastinating - the strange predilection for stealing moments from oneself to squander on whimsical meanderings. I think I have a gift for it although it has taken years to refine.

I would like to take this opportunity to caution any visitors about the perilous learning curve that will accompany the beginning of this blog. I am sorry for I know not what I am doing.