Poem: A Dress for Emily Dickinson

A Dress for Emily Dickinson

Sometimes even Emily
must have wanted fewer words
Less iambic pentameter–
a little more free verse–
something to unlock the invisible doors
keeping her in the house, sewing together verses she didn’t put in letters

I’d happily sacrifice a verse or two
for the promise of a trip to Manhattan —
what it would have shown through her eyes
Perhaps she would not have been nobody
Perhaps she would have bought fine paper
Perhaps Emily would have bought a new dress.