Envelope Poems by Emily Dickinson

...and a few of my own post-it note poems.

In the little town of Glen Arbor, Michigan there is a small bookstore I visit every time I am in the area. This bookstore, the Cherry Republic just down the road, and the tea and spice store around the corner – places my wife and I love to visit when we are the “pinky” of Michigan.

There are few sections I visit in bookstores. The poetry section is my first stop. And on this occasion it was my first visit; it took a few walk throughs to find the one little shelf of poetry in a little room the size of a small pantry in the cottage . It is there I found this little book of Emily Dickinson called Envelope Poems.

At the time I was just renewing my interest in poetry. I knew Dickinson as an author, I did not know she wrote poetry. What I discovered is she wrote 1800 poems in a 15-year span. But only 10 or 12 were published in her lifetime. It was not until after her death that her sister published her poems.

This collect, however, are never published poems of Dickinson.  Also, this collection is unique and presents her poems in her own handwriting. Because of how prolific she was she wrote on whatever paper she could get her hands on. These fragments of paper scraps and envelope pieces are photographed and presented in this collection with a diagram and text representing the genuine article on the opposite page deciphering her handwriting.

The book is visually delightful. It gives you a chance to look at Dickinson’s work in her own handwriting. You see where she struggled for word selection often writing a second choice above or below the initial word. You also see striked words without replacements, others are underlined. Em dashes and symbols whose meaning is unknown.

Dickinson’s words are lively, witty, and sometimes biting. Reading these I’ve often wondered what encounter spurred the poem. One such poem is on page 78:

There are those
who are shallow
intentionally
and only
profound
by
accident

I learned from this little collection that I have the freedom to write often and to write anywhere. When I was starting to write my own poetry I wanted a special notebook, one that was comfortable to write in, beautiful, and could be weathered well. To my knowledge Dickinson had no access to paper the likes we have today. She wrote on used scraps of paper; used envelopes unfolded for space.

Inspired by Dickinson I began to write little poems on Post-it notes at work. Below are two I found in my notebook with faded pencil marks and misspellings. Perhaps one day I will have a collection of my own called, Post-it Note Poems.

Your love is sweeter
Day by day, year by year
I hope ever more so
When we’re gray holding near
To each other
Year after year

What is calling
Beckoning
Moving my soul
Or not
A hunger for what

Is there a special notebook you like to use to write?