Sarah White Verse-Virtual 2017 June

June 2017

I live in New York City where I enjoy art classes, plays, and concerts. Lucky me. Since retiring as a professor of French language and literature, I’ve published four poetry collections. The fifth, “to one who bends my time,” is forthcoming from Deerbrook Editions later this year.

My favorite illustration of our June theme is Emily Dickinson’s no. 261 (Franklin edition), “I held a Jewel in my fingers,” which is, I think, a poem about not writing a poem. Below is the original Dickinson poem followed by my own verse comment.

On Dickinson's Amethyst

Emily Dickinson by Sarah White

[Emily Dickinson, No. 261, ed. Franklin]

           I held a Jewel in my fingers –
           And went to sleep –
           The day was warm, and winds were prosy –
           I said “’Twill keep”

           I woke - and chid my honest fingers –
           The Gem was gone –
           And now, an Amethyst remembrance
           Is All I own -

           Ill Wind

           To spell out its name
           is to tempt the Fates.
           Pretend not to know
           anything about it, not
           to know what Dickinson
           meant when she claimed
           the humdrum winds
           lulled her to sleep
           and a Jewel fell
           from her hand.

           Pained when she wakes,
           she sees that an Amethyst
           remains. I myself,
           given a semi-precious stone,
           might be consoled.
           But when she compares it
           to the Gem she lost

           Remembrance
           leaves her cold.

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