Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Tks 4 the Follow, Emily, & YW!


A poem keeps popping into my head; something from high school, an Emily Dickinson ditty. There's a couple things odd about that: 1- I'm not what you'd call a big Emily Dickinson fan; 2 – that I remember anything from high school is amazing. But even though I possibly could have gone to high school with Emily, she and I have almost nothing else in common, that is to say, I'm not a reclusive virgin poetess.

Well, I suppose it is true I spend an inordinate amount of time shut away in my room chittering away on this dang computer talking mostly to the screen and my dog; so, okay, I may be a little reclusive. And I may have dashed off a bawdy limerick or two at some point. But I do have kids, even grandkids. I swear they're mine. Do not for one second believe a word about their being adopted. They just say that.

Anyway, back to this Dickinson poem, which keeps rattling around in my head like a Little Richard song*. I'm thinking Miz Dickinson was way ahead of her time. I mean, there may have been some social networking going on in the mid-19th Century, but I doubt it was anything like today. My guess is Em had maybe twenty friends, tops, and those probably included some goats and chickens and such up there in Amherst, Massachusetts; I have a few of those myself. Followers, it is said, were even fewer. So I'm pretty sure that's why she wrote this poem:

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.

I definitely understand what Emily was going through. Sounds to me like she was just as paranoid as the rest of us. And it must've been a whole lot harder, because she didn't even have a "Like" button for people to click. Can you imagine?!

Well, this baby frog better get back to telling his name the livelong day to (hopefully) an admiring blog.

*For a demo, go here: http://tinyurl.com/2pxo7h. Picture me as the fat white guy.

P.S. please like me.

My name is Phil Truman and I write novels.

Use these links to check out:
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5 comments:

C.C. Jackson said...

Hilarious, but so true. Poor Emily. :)

alberta ross said...

Thats a great poem - I have never read her - have heard of her - maybe I'll try some others

Nora Boekelman said...

So nice to meet you...thank you for sharing..I can relate to you very well..isolation is not a problem...it's a gift we have. The dog is just a marvel.
Love your verse...Love the ambiguity, as I love that also. Can I follow your blog?...My Love, Nora
@nora -queenbee

Betty said...

then:To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog.
now
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring blog.

enjoyed!

Fans and Friends of Lydia Cornell said...

Hi Phil, cool blog, Thanks for your thoughts. Will try to LIKE you! lol

Have to find the link to your page.
Luv xo