A 252
The first book I finished in 2014 is going to be a hard one to top for sheer beauty. The Gorgeous Nothings is a reproduction of Emily Dickinson’s “envelope poems,” drafts and fragments that she wrote mostly late in her writing life, using the shapes and countours of the bits of paper to guide her experiments. It’s the sort of thing that takes your breath away. My favorites are the little triangular bits, tiny scraps of paper that confine the poet and also release her:
In this short life
that only last an hour
how much — how
little — is
within our
power
In this case, the “much” outvies the little, perhaps because the little contains much, presses on it and holds it tight with loving fierceness.
A few other snippets, including this one, which sounds like a New Year’s poem to me —
Look back
on time
with kindly
eyes
He doubtless
did his best.
How softly
sinks his
thattrembling Sun
In Human
Nature’s West (A278)
And another triangle scrap —
There are those
who are shallow
intentionally
and only
profound
by
accident
(A 539 / A 539a)
The editorial work is done by Marta Werner and Jan Bervin, and the excellent production by Christine Burgin / New Directions, in association with Granary Books (who published a limited edition in 2012). Marta Werner has also edited Radical Scatters, a subscription web-database of Dickinson’s fragments hosted by the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
Wow–you brought my attention to The Gorgeous Nothings and now it is on my desk, sparking my imagination! So many connections to things on my reading list– from Benjamin to Hayles’ explorations of art books and the concept of random reading.