Emily Dickinson
Leaves a Message
To the World
Now that Her Homestead
In Amherst Has
An Answering Machine

Because I could not stop for Breath
Past Altitudes --- of Earth ---
Upon a reel of Tape I leave
Directions to my Hearth ---

For All who will not let me lie
Unruffled in escape ---
Speak quickly --- or I'll intercept
Your Message with --- a Beep.

Though often I had dialed and rung
The Bastion of the Bee ---
The Answer I had hungered for
Was seldom Home --- to me ---

--- From In a Prominent Bar in Secaucus
X. J. Kennedy
© 2007, Johns Hopkins University Press