Member Poem

  I.

  Listen again for the heart in me:
  my breath

  a bullet

  the word
  my blood

  the wound

  nearer than
  God

  II.

  A fair copy was made and sent.
  Placed in parentheses
  (Master)

  Eternity, that awful parting,
  crossed out

  a rough
  white draft

  nobody else will see
  the want
  but you

  that is enough

  III.

  This preliminary draft begins without you. Cancel
  my words (did I offend it) Substituting others (my
  heart flinched) This manuscript of unresolved
  alternatives (wordless---now)

  Source: This a found poem; Sources: Emily Dickinson's "Master" letters, in Emily Dickinson: Selected Letters, Thomas H. Johnson, ed. and "Letter 2" in The Master Letters of Emily Dickinson, R.W. Franklin, ed.

  This poem is a reprint. It was first published in the Emily Anthology (Porkbelly Press, 2015).