The Most Triumphant Bird I Ever Knew or Met by Emily Dickinson

“Nature is a haunted house–but Art–is a house that tries to be haunted.” Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

The most triumphant Bird I ever knew or met
Embarked upon a twig today
And till Dominion set
I famish to behold so eminent a sight
And sang for nothing scrutable
But intimate Delight.
Retired, and resumed his transitive Estate —
To what delicious Accident
Does finest Glory fit!

– Emily Dickinson

EMILY DICKINSON (1830 – 1886) was an American poet. While Dickinson was a prolific poet, fewer than a dozen of her nearly 1,800 poems were published during her lifetime.The poems published then, were usually edited significantly to fit conventional poetic rules. Her poems were unique in her era. They contain short lines, typically lack titles, and often use slant rhyme as well as unconventional capitalization and punctuation. Many of her poems deal with themes of death and immortality, two recurring topics in letters to her friends. Although Dickinson’s acquaintances were likely aware of her writing, it was not until after her death that Lavinia, Emily’s younger sister, discovered her cache of poem, that the breadth of her work became public. Her first collection of poetry was published in 1890, four years after her death.

A mostly bed-bound poet, writer, former columnist and the former associate editor of a regional employment newspaper, my work has been featured widely in print and digital publications including: Ramingo’s Porch, Vita Brevis Literature, Connotation Press, The Bar None Group, Salamander Cove,I Am Not a Silent Poet, Meta/ Phor(e) /Play, The Compass Rose and California Woman. I run The Poet by Day, a curated info hub for poets and writers. I founded The Bardo Group/Beguines, a vitual literary community and publisher of The BeZineof which I am the founding and managing editor.

“Every pair of eyes facing you has probably experienced something you could not endure.”  Lucille Clifton