I heard a Fly buzz...
by Emily Dickinson

I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air—
Between the Heaves of Storm—

The Eyes around—had wrung them dry—
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset—when the King
Be witnessed—in the Room—

I willed my Keepsakes—signed away
What portions of me be
Assignable—and then it was
There interposed a Fly—

With Blue—uncertain stumbling Buzz—
Between the light—and me—
And then the Windows failed—
and then I could not see to see—
 

“I heard a Fly buzz...” by Emily Dickinson. Public domain. (buy now)

The American poet Emily Dickinson died in Amherst, Massachusetts, on this date in 1886 (books by this author). She had been in ill health for about two and a half years, and was confined to her bed for the last seven months of her life. She would not allow her doctor, Otis Bigelow, to come to her bedside, but would only consent to him walking past the doorway.

Dickinson had left specific instructions for her burial. Her casket was carried by the family’s six Irish hired men, on a route that wound its way past her flower garden, through the barn in back of the house, and through a field of buttercups.

Very few of her nearly 1,800 poems were published during her lifetime, and what was published was done so anonymously. After her death, Dickinson’s sister, Lavinia, discovered hundreds of poems that she had written over the years. The first volume, The Poems of Emily Dickinson, was published in 1890, and it was severely edited to fit Victorian style.

It’s the birthday of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Katherine Anne Porter (books by this author), born Callie Russell Porter in Indian Creek, Texas (1890). Her first book, Flowering Judas and Other Stories, was published in 1930. Her next was a trilogy of short novels, Pale Horse, Pale Rider (1935), which garnered her considerable acclaim.

Ship of Fools was published in 1962 and outsold every other book published that year. The film rights were sold for half a million dollars. Porter was able to live comfortably for the rest of her life. The film version (1965) was directed by Stanley Kramer and featured Vivien Leigh in her last film role.

Porter won the Pulitzer Prize (1966) for The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter.

Katherine Anne Porter said: “I have a very firm belief that the life of no man can be explained in terms of his experiences, of what has happened to him, because in spite of all the poetry, all the philosophy to the contrary, we are not really masters of our fate. We don’t really direct our lives unaided and unobstructed. Our being is subject to all the chances of life. There are so many things we are capable of, that we could be or do. The potentialities are so great that we never, any of us, are more than one-fourth fulfilled. Except that there may be one powerful motivating force that simply carries you along, and I think that was true of me.”

Today is the birthday of American writer Laura Hillenbrand (1967) (books by this author), the author of two best-selling books of nonfiction: Seabiscuit: An American Legend (2001) and Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (2010).

Hillenbrand grew up in Fairfax, Virginia. She first published an article about Seabiscuit, the legendary racehorse, in American Heritage magazine (2003). 17 months later she delivered the manuscript. The editor read it and sent her an email, which read, “In terms of pure narrative, this is the most satisfying story I have ever encountered in my eleven years as an editor. Reading it wasn’t even work; it was pleasure.” Seabiscuit became a New York Times best-seller, and later a movie and play.

Hillenbrand’s book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (2010) is about running phenomenon Louis Zamperini, whose bombardier plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean in 1943. He spent 47 days adrift on a raft, eating seabirds, until he and his companion were captured. He spent the next two years being tortured in three different Japanese prisoner-of-war camps.

About writing, Hillenbrand says: “I feel so fully alive when I’m really into a story. I feel like all my faculties are engaged, and this is where I’m meant to be. It’s probably what a racehorse feels like when it runs. This is what it’s meant to do, what its body is meant to do. This is what my mind is meant to do.”

It’s the birthday of the man who wrote one of the best-known tales in America, The Wizard of Oz. L. Frank Baum (books by this author) was born in Chittenango, New York, on this day in 1856. The tale, which he wrote as a children’s novel, was first published in 1900. He dedicated it: “To my good friend & comrade, My Wife,” Maud Gage Baum.

L.Frank Baum was a socialist. And he wrote: “There were no poor people in the land of Oz, because there was no such thing as money, and all property of every sort belonged to the Ruler. Each person was given freely by his neighbours whatever he required for his use, which is as much as anyone may reasonably desire. Every one worked half the time and played half the time, and the people enjoyed the work as much as they did the play, because it is good to be occupied and to have something to do.”

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.^®

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