We were very pleased with the entries we received last month for the LAC "Art of Poetry" contest. The theme of the "arts" was required. This poem,
Remembering Emily, by Jane Davis Carpenter was chosen as the winning entry.
Remembering Emily
Emily Dickinson, 1830-1886
The quiet country churchyard still
recalls the Belle of Amherst well,
and ivy greening her small bed
may weave a wreath around her head.
The songs of lark and mockingbird
might be the sounds that she once heard
a hundred years ago and more,
reprising like a sweet encore.
On Sundays long ago, she strolled
these grassy pathways here and told
her spirit-visions to no one,
as silent as a cloistered nun.
Demure she was, dressed all in white,
an unimposing figure, slight
as any cygnet's quill she penned
her lines with, even to the end.
At dusk, when evening shadows fall,
the bell for Vespers sounds its call.
Thus it may happen, some shall see
the wraith -a wisp-- Miss Emily.
As gauzy as sheer-winged moth
A specter not of flesh and cloth,
but spirit, rises from her rest
Miss Dickinson to manifest.
Author
Jane Davis Carpenter
Jane began writing poetry at age 8. Her first poem was published in the Newark (N. J.) Sunday Call, on the Sunbeam Page. There was no stopping her after that. These many years later, she still writes every day simply because she has to. That's the way it is with many poets she has talked with. Publications include The New York Times, Bloomsbury Review, Good Housekeeping, Woman's Day,The Denver Post, anthologies and other mainstream and literary magazines. She and her daughter, the artist Liz Gasper, have a new book out titled
What to Make of Silence, a collection of prize and favorite poems. It will soon be available from
Amazon and from local bookstores. She is grateful to the Lakewood Arts Council for this distinguished prize.