Each Sunday in April, National Poetry Month, I've been looking at one poem and commenting on it.
I memorized this poem years ago, and it still fascinates me. Who but Emily Dickinson would have thought to write a poem in the voice of a person who's already died, who's remembering the last thing she saw -- a fly -- a blue fly at that, the kind that swarms around dead things? The fly lives on decay, but at the same time it's the most alive thing in the room.
Life and death are located in the same room and, most profoundly, in the same body. They need each other. Even the speaker needs to be both dead and alive, to speak the poem.
[I heard a fly buzz]
I heard a Fly buzz -- when I died --
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the stillness in the Air --
Between the Heaves of Storm --
The Eyes beside -- had wrung them dry --
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset -- when the King
Be witnessed -- in the Room --
I willed my Keepsakes -- Signed away
What portion of me be
Assignable -- and then it was
There interposed a Fly --
With Blue -- uncertain stumbling Buzz --
Between the light -- and me --
And then the Windows failed -- and then
I could not see to see --
-- Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
Learn more about Fleda Brown her on her Web site, fledabrown.com
First glimpse of Blue Ivy Carter
Absolute Lin-sanity
Test on Comforter in Powell Unit Shows Blood
Angry Dad Shoots Teens Laptop
Hero Driver Saves Kids From Burning Bus
Funeral to be held for Powell boys
Kobe was 'rooting for Patriots' in Super Bowl
Sandusky on having to stay inside and people turning on him
Wookie Sensation
Uzbek Man Pleads Guilty in Plot to Kill Obama
Woolly Mammoth Caught on Camera?
Sandusky makes a statement
Did JLo 'Assault' Marc Anthony on Camera?
Christie Brinkley's Runway Slip
Toddler forced to run half-naked in snow
Halle Wants to Leave the Country
Northern Lights shine above earth
Plane makes perfect belly landing
Kris Jenner New Face of Arousal Oils
Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames
