‘The Brain is wider than the Sky’ means so much to me; it’s the quote that spurred my personal statement that started my journey to read English Literature at my dream university. Emily Dickinson is a jewel like no other.
Thank you so much for posting the rectial audio file here. That must have been a beautiful evening - wish I would have been there!
The book of her envelope poems looks amazing. It's so hard to chose a quote, so many of them are inspiring to me. I think I like this one the best at the moment - “The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience."
Thank you for celebrating Emily! Growing up, you learn about her as one of the classics, and the way most poetry is taught is that "classics = boring as all hell", but later in college, I had a great professor re-contextualize her to our class by showing us what a little weirdo she actually was. Especially in her punctuation. It never occurred to me that you could be so punk just by getting experimental with punctuation!
She became a sort of phantom-friend throughout the pandemic. I felt connected to her isolation when I (like so many of us) was also alone in a room with nothing but writing letters (or texts) to friends and the window to the outside to keep me company. In this music video I released a few years ago, I tried to emulate the famous portrait of her (which you posted above) as a nod to her company during those times. https://youtu.be/uSBgKRKtGXw?feature=shared
Thanks again for this beautiful post, I'm excited to dive into these new quotes of hers you shared! Each one is such a peach!
Reading this, I remembered a thread I read the other day about how we no longer have geniuses like Beethoven anymore, and someone noted that it's us - history, that redefined Beethoven to who, he is known to be today; a genius for his works. Thank you for this wonderful tribute to Emily, and my best quote has to be...
"If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?”
"I am out with lanterns looking for myself" resonated in me this morning. I thoroughly enjoyed the reading the instrumental backing was exquisite Jesse.
Thanks for all this background! I was also writing about Emily Dickinson this week, and along the way I discovered a snippet from a letter:
"Affection is like bread, unnoticed till we starve, and then we dream of it, and sing of it, and paint it, when every urchin in the street has more than he can eat. We turn not older with years, but newer every day."
Thank you for this beautiful post Jesse, well thanks to your madre for sharing it! Every time I fall into Emily one realises she was truely awakened to the reality of the universe. As dear Rupert Spira said: when we all know that C = E, consciousness equals existence, the world will be a much better place! Love ❤️
LOVED this. Seeing that exhibition at The Morgan was such a life changing experience for me. At the time I was just starting my journey in flower preservation and it was formative in finding my voice as an artist. Since then my art has been featured in Vogue + NYT about flower pressing and I owe so much of it to Emily herself! I even had the joy of pressing flowers for the Apple TV Dickinson show. A full circle moment. Would love to send you and your mom pressings too! Feel free to DM me on ig + I'll send some over :) @framedflorals
‘The Brain is wider than the Sky’ means so much to me; it’s the quote that spurred my personal statement that started my journey to read English Literature at my dream university. Emily Dickinson is a jewel like no other.
“The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience” - This resonates with me a lot today! 🙏🏼
Thank you so much for posting the rectial audio file here. That must have been a beautiful evening - wish I would have been there!
The book of her envelope poems looks amazing. It's so hard to chose a quote, so many of them are inspiring to me. I think I like this one the best at the moment - “The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience."
Thank you for celebrating Emily! Growing up, you learn about her as one of the classics, and the way most poetry is taught is that "classics = boring as all hell", but later in college, I had a great professor re-contextualize her to our class by showing us what a little weirdo she actually was. Especially in her punctuation. It never occurred to me that you could be so punk just by getting experimental with punctuation!
She became a sort of phantom-friend throughout the pandemic. I felt connected to her isolation when I (like so many of us) was also alone in a room with nothing but writing letters (or texts) to friends and the window to the outside to keep me company. In this music video I released a few years ago, I tried to emulate the famous portrait of her (which you posted above) as a nod to her company during those times. https://youtu.be/uSBgKRKtGXw?feature=shared
Thanks again for this beautiful post, I'm excited to dive into these new quotes of hers you shared! Each one is such a peach!
Reading this, I remembered a thread I read the other day about how we no longer have geniuses like Beethoven anymore, and someone noted that it's us - history, that redefined Beethoven to who, he is known to be today; a genius for his works. Thank you for this wonderful tribute to Emily, and my best quote has to be...
"If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?”
"I am out with lanterns looking for myself" resonated in me this morning. I thoroughly enjoyed the reading the instrumental backing was exquisite Jesse.
Thank you
Thanks for all this background! I was also writing about Emily Dickinson this week, and along the way I discovered a snippet from a letter:
"Affection is like bread, unnoticed till we starve, and then we dream of it, and sing of it, and paint it, when every urchin in the street has more than he can eat. We turn not older with years, but newer every day."
https://ancientwisdommodernlives.com/p/hope-evil-fear-dickinson-solzhenitsyn-munch
Thank you for this beautiful post Jesse, well thanks to your madre for sharing it! Every time I fall into Emily one realises she was truely awakened to the reality of the universe. As dear Rupert Spira said: when we all know that C = E, consciousness equals existence, the world will be a much better place! Love ❤️
Thank you for sharing this remarkable post - Jesse. There is so much to it - it's like a little chest full of Dickinson treasures.
It's been a rather hectic week. And this post has been a balm for the soul.
All of those quotes are so thought provoking - Emily Dickinson also seems radically contemporary - she is always fresh - she never grows old.
I especially like one about when something utterly new is created it's like a little demon - a unique entity - has been born.
Thanks again for sharing this.
Good night and sweet dreams from Detroit!
🌙💙✨
This was lovely. Thank you, Jesse.
A beautiful post Jesse ! Thank you!
‘We turn not older with years but newer every day ‘ is my particular favourite. 💛
thank You. this is a great post . The reading and the links are both appreciated . “I am out with lanterns, looking for myself.” is mine fave 😊
Such a beautiful post! Thank you!
LOVED this. Seeing that exhibition at The Morgan was such a life changing experience for me. At the time I was just starting my journey in flower preservation and it was formative in finding my voice as an artist. Since then my art has been featured in Vogue + NYT about flower pressing and I owe so much of it to Emily herself! I even had the joy of pressing flowers for the Apple TV Dickinson show. A full circle moment. Would love to send you and your mom pressings too! Feel free to DM me on ig + I'll send some over :) @framedflorals
Ohhh wow this is so beautiful and wonderful and amazing. I just sent you a message on Instagram!! Thank you so so much :)) 🌸💕🌸💕🌸💕
"forever is composed of nows" - I had to share that one with my sister. So true.
What a gift Jesse. I have long admired Emily Dickinson. I would love to see the original event again.