"I've never been into poetry, even though song lyrics are a lot like it. I have thought it pretentious sounding, even though I have a ravenous love for words. But I started coming across biographical tidbits about Emily Dickinson – that she wore only white, that she never left the house. I read "My War are Laid Away in Books", by Alfred Habegger, and became obsessed. She is incredibly fascinating – such a strange character. I got so excited about how her poems related to her life.
I am interested in artists who were not known or appreciated in their lifetime. J.S. Bach is another one. Now, I wonder why that should interest me so?
On Easter Sunday, 1809, my paramour and I visited Emily Dickinson's house in Amherst, Mass. It was a great field-trip. It was a thrill to see her own bedroom and the window where she lowered a basket of brownies to the children below! Her brother's house next door is also very interesting. It's quite decrepit and un-renovated, which is just how I like a house to be.
Her letters are as good as her poems, maybe more so in my opinion. I took phrases from her letters and biography for this song. Of course, as always, I also wrote original lines and took applicable turns of phrase from my cut-n-paste computer notebook. This collage writing is my typical way of working. Hey, I've read that the Bible is a collage!
Verse, not used:
Clutching a vanilla-scented heliotrope, and a Lady's Slipper orchid, {flowers on Emily's casket}
She whispered imploringly to me, {made up}
"I could not make up my mind; do you think he ever did?" {from a letter by Emily}"
From Rasputina's website:
"I've never been into poetry, even though song lyrics are a lot like it. I have thought it pretentious sounding, even though I have a ravenous love for words. But I started coming across biographical tidbits about Emily Dickinson – that she wore only white, that she never left the house. I read "My War are Laid Away in Books", by Alfred Habegger, and became obsessed. She is incredibly fascinating – such a strange character. I got so excited about how her poems related to her life. I am interested in artists who were not known or appreciated in their lifetime. J.S. Bach is another one. Now, I wonder why that should interest me so? On Easter Sunday, 1809, my paramour and I visited Emily Dickinson's house in Amherst, Mass. It was a great field-trip. It was a thrill to see her own bedroom and the window where she lowered a basket of brownies to the children below! Her brother's house next door is also very interesting. It's quite decrepit and un-renovated, which is just how I like a house to be. Her letters are as good as her poems, maybe more so in my opinion. I took phrases from her letters and biography for this song. Of course, as always, I also wrote original lines and took applicable turns of phrase from my cut-n-paste computer notebook. This collage writing is my typical way of working. Hey, I've read that the Bible is a collage!
Verse, not used: Clutching a vanilla-scented heliotrope, and a Lady's Slipper orchid, {flowers on Emily's casket} She whispered imploringly to me, {made up} "I could not make up my mind; do you think he ever did?" {from a letter by Emily}"