EMILY DICKINSON: INNOCENT GENIUS: PART 2

mailed copious letters to friends 
acquaintances, a couple to publisher 
to elicit opinion which poet 
perfection used to examine  
acute    as hesitation extracted 
Darkness games  ——   Emily’s
intuitive aim put Robin Hood to
shame      exacting was her Veracity 
brook too clear to cross calmly near
So —  this divinely embodied  
Spirited Crystal lowered her sweetie 
eats to children below her window 
not resisting her feats      Giggling 

Family and contextual wealth a 
gift from Lord Above    though parental
closeness not too well fulfilled —-
adoring Austen and Vinnie jelled did 
she      Su as sister-in-law she could 
not but completely open her door to this 
endearing Core so smart     with Presence 
tangoing  too impressive —— that rumours 
abounded intimacy illegitimate 
           …
Flowers as neutral nifty charmers
Untainted with emotion her favourite 
Devotion —- in perennial garden 
Emily laboured with them advising 
floundering pistils        In own 
orchards, fresh fields and woods 
she knew them all as Inspiration
on willing call        Spring or Fall

Emily —- an ember clear without masks 
ambitions, mirages    illustrious Lily light 
from yonder
authentic her magnetic innocence sought 
no validation     Circled by Knowingness 
within Singularity 

sovereign her poems into Infinity 
is sown ——-   for near on two 
centuries we now Crack her
Marbles which into booklets poetess 
stitched
  —- those on ink and under iridescent 
skull nourishing West Cemetery 
in Amherst      dispersed

Emily’s  ‘I felt a Funeral in my Brain’
STILL making Headlines 
dying for Beauty surrendering 
to Truth      Penetrating pure her vibrations 
across grey matter
                  She watches me 
W R I T E
Copyright © | Year Posted 2026

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Wells Avatar
September 18, 2026 at 3:26 PM
This is such a passionate, powerful tribute to one of the greatest poets in American literature and perhaps in world literature. I had to read your whole poem over several times to appreciate its subtlety and craft. I think Emily Dickinson's poetry has long been neglected and ignored. But your brilliant celebration of her works has truly done her a great service. Thank you, Ghairo!
Rodgers Avatar
September 18, 2026 at 5:25 AM
Dear Ghairo, where Part 1 established her cosmic mind and solitary focus, Part 2 beautifully anchors her in her lived, domestic, and relational world, showing the tender humanity behind the myth. Emily operated completely unmasked, "seeking no validation." You highlight her rich, delicate capacity for affection, lowering baskets of sweets to neighborhood children from her window, tending gently to "floundering pistils" in her garden, and sharing a deep, complex bond with her sister-in-law, Susan. Her quiet life wasn't a prison; it was a carefully guarded sanctuary where she could give her full, untainted devotion to nature and art without compromising her autonomy. A magnificent completion to the diptych, Ghairo. Blessings, Daniel
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