National Poetry Month is on, and we continue to celebrate it.
Here’s a celebratory poem by Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886). Dickinson was a prolific poet, yet fewer than a dozen of her almost 1, 800 poems were published during her lifetime. Apparently, her poems didn’t fit the style and tastes of her time, but they surely fit the time that came after and our own time.
From the Chrysalis
By Emily Dickinson
My cocoon tightens, colors tease,
I’m feeling for the air;
A dim capacity for wings
Degrades the dress I wear.
A power of butterfly must be
The aptitude to fly,
Meadows of majesty concedes
And easy sweeps of sky.
So I must baffle at the hint
And cipher at the sign,
And make much blunder, if at last
I take the clew divine.
From Time and Eternity by Emily Dickinson
- Poets and Fables: Steven Flint and “The Sun and the Boy” - July 3, 2025
- Poets and Poems: Alison Blevins and “Where Will We Live if the House Burns Down?” - July 1, 2025
- Poets and Poems: Paul Pastor and “The Locust Years” - June 26, 2025
Maureen Doallas says
It’s wonderful how fresh Dickinson still seems. This is a wonderful choice to highlight. (Plus, I know she’s one of your favorites.)
L. L. Barkat says
“A dim capacity for wings
Degrades the dress I wear”
Isn’t she great? 🙂
My kids are going to try to write a poem a day for the month of April. Here’s the beginning…
http://greeninventionscentral.blogspot.com/2010/04/making-april-educational-and-fun.html
L. L. Barkat says
Oh, and I must share this with you, my poetry buddies…
yesterday I walked into a public library and saw a display table for National Poetry Month. InsideOut was in the middle of the display next to Billy Collins. 🙂
(I figure I can share fun news like that here. I hope. 🙂 )
L. L. Barkat says
Okay, and today… some advice on how to write a poem…
http://greeninventionscentral.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-to-write-poem.html
Susanne Barrett says
I’ve just added this wonderful place to my Google Reader–I am so excited about such a lovely place, especially one that features my friend Sarah’s blog. 🙂
Yesterday Mama Nature played an April Fool’s joke on our small town: we woke to snow in Southern California! Here’s my first offering to the NaPoWriMo “gods”:
April Fool’s Day
Only a fool would believe
in April snow,
a sloggy quilt patchworked
of white wetness,
darkened dirt peeping through
greening grass.
Warm Southern California,
usually basking in sunshine,
chortles at the joke
of snow on April first.
Slipping from white to green,
the snow
it melts,
dissolving the foolishness
of Mother Nature’s prankishness.
I post it here rather than the link because I’m in the process of switching my Blogger blog to my won domain name (www.MeditativeMeanderings.com), but for a day or two links to my blog won’t be working.
Love the badge–thanks, L.L. for creating it! I’m going to pop it onto my own blog as soon as I can. 🙂
n davis rosback says
It is only the second day of April, and
already I’ve thinking just how much I am liking this month.
Both, “From the Chrysalis” and “Shooting Crank”, are wonderful.
The words that Emily Dickinson used are from another time, and yet, words that I would like to hear and use now.
Erin says
I love Emily Dickinson. 🙂