Why I Created My Emily Dickinson
Musings on Emily Dickinson
I had a habit or addiction to buying books and keeping them near for years without reading them. Tsundoku was coined for me. Not really, but I certainly acquired books faster than it is possible to read them.
Once the pandemic hit and in Washington State we were locked down for months it seemed that pile upon pile of books seemed kinda silly to keep. So I started culling.
One of the books I almost culled was Helen Vendler’s book on Emily Dickinson. When I came across the book again I sat for a moment thinking about the possible change tents of the book. What I might learn, what I could share with others once read. I thought there would be useful insights here that I could not find elsewhere. So I kept it.
The title for this publication comes from the book of the same name by the poet Susan Howe. Which was a book I had purchased several years back and never got around to reading. I finished the book last year finally and it can still be purchased online. I believe it is out of print. (It. can still be found at that large online retailer. I don’t need to mention their name)
I didn’t want to release either book from my collection but read them. Emily Dickinson is a major American poet. I think knowing her poetry well can only help my own writing. I want to dive deep into u set standing her poetry.
What I plan is writing non-academic meditations on Emily Dickinson’s poetry. I will use Helen Vendler’s book and the one by Susan Howe too to lend a hand. Other books may come my way as well.
There are over 1800 poems in any ‘complete’ Emily Dickinson collection of poetry. If I did 3 poems per week and took two weeks off that would be just 150 poems per year. Four years of this work would be 600 poems. You can see straight off that this is a long project if I hope to do a majority of her work. I don’t know how far I will get or how long I will continue. It would be a unique experiment I think. I hope others come along too.
I think it is best though to take things in smaller chunks. Who knows what life will be five years from now or a year hence. So I’ll try for a year and see what happens to see if can maintain that much.
Thank you
