Day 12

 

Here’s Day 12 of your Emily Dickinson practice 🌿 — keeping the fresh three-part rhythm.

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Poem 1 — Philosophical / Abstract

“The Brain within its Groove” (Fr556, J556)

The Brain within its Groove
Runs evenly – and true –
But let a Splinter swerve –
’Twere easier for You –

To put a Current back –
When Floods have slit the Hills –
And scooped a Turnpike for Themselves –
And trodden out the Mills –

Note: A metaphor for thought, habit, or sanity. The mind runs smoothly until a splinter dislodges it. Then deviation is unstoppable, like a flood carving new channels. Dickinson captures both fragility and force.

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Poem 2 — Nature Lyric

“The Wind begun to knead the Grass –” (Fr824, J815)

The Wind begun to knead the Grass –
As Women do a Dough –
He flung a Hand full at the Plain –
A Hand full at the Sky –

The Leaves unhooked themselves from Trees –
And started all abroad –
The Dust did scoop itself like Hands –
And threw away the Road –

The Wagons quickened on the Street –
The Thunder hurried slow –
The Lightning showed a Yellow Head –
And then a livid Toe –

The Birds put up the Bars to Nests –
The Cattle flung to Barns –
Then came one drop of Giant Rain –
And then, as if the Hands

That held the Dams – had parted hold –
The Waters wrecked the Sky –
But overlooked my Father’s House –
Just Quartering a Tree –

Note: A storm builds, described in human gestures — kneading, flinging, unhooking. Nature as drama, culminating in rain that spares the poet’s home but not the nearby tree. Intimate and immense at once.

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Poem 3 — Compressed Spark

“’Tis not that Dying hurts us so –” (Fr816, J804)

’Tis not that Dying hurts us so –
’Tis Living – hurts us more –
But Dying – is a different way –
A Kind – behind the Door –

The Southern Custom – of the Bird –
That ere the Frosts are due
Accepts a better Latitude –
We – are the Birds – that stay.

Note: Dickinson flips expectation: life is the ache, death is migration. We, stubborn birds, stay behind when others accept a “better latitude.” Death is both loss and release.

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✨ Practice suggestion:
Notice today where you feel “grooves” — habits, thought-paths that run evenly. What happens if one splinter interrupts them? Can you see disruption not only as danger, but also as a chance for a new riverbed?