Minnesota Poetry: Tim Brennan’s “dreaming of Emily Dickinson”

Tim Brennan lives in Austin with wife Jaci and sons Alex & Max. He has taught secondary English for 25 years and his poetry has appeared in several journals. Brennan’s poem “dreaming of Emily Dickinson” was selected for What Light, a poetry anthology put out by mnartists.org

dreaming of Emily Dickinson

i sometimes dream

of Emily Dickinson,

her seemingly stoic

allegories

speaking of lost love:

flies buzzing, yellow halos,

unblossomed thighs,

apple orchards,

new shoes in Eden

secretly, she was a woman

i once loved even though

she didn’t know,

wouldn’t acknowledge,

wouldn’t have known what

to do even if she had known

she was my home town,

all my favorite places

walkin in her streets,

elm lined

lovers’ lanes

i would have died for her Beauty,

instead i died for her Truth

today i saw a woman

who reminded me of her

i wanted to tell her

it was she who touched

my face and found me there

– “dreaming of Emily Dickinson” by Tim J Brennan as published in What Light: A poetry anthology from mnartists.org. Printed here with permission from the publisher.