Apparently with no surprise (1668)

Apparently with no surprise
To any happy Flower
The Frost beheads it at it’s play –
In accidental power – 
The blonde Assassin passes on –
The Sun proceeds unmoved
To measure off another Day
For an Approving God – 

A Route of Evanescence (1489)

A Route of Evanescence,
With a revolving Wheel – 
A Resonance of Emerald
A Rush of Cochineal – 

And every Blossom on the Bush
Adjusts it’s tumbled Head – 
The Mail from Tunis – probably,
An easy Morning’s Ride – 

A little Madness in the Spring (1356)

A little Madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King,
But God be with the Clown – 
Who ponders this tremendous scene – 
This whole Experiment of Green – 
As if it were his own!

A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1096)

A narrow Fellow in the Grass
Occasionally rides – 
You may have met him? Did you not
His notice instant is – 

The Grass divides as with a Comb – 
A spotted Shaft is seen,
And then it closes at your Feet
And opens further on – 

He likes a Boggy Acre – 
A Floor too cool for Corn – 
But when a Boy and Barefoot
I more than once at Noon 

Have passed I thought a Whip Lash
Unbraiding in the Sun
When stooping to secure it
It wrinkled And was gone – 

Several of Nature’s People
I know and they know me
I feel for them a transport
Of Cordiality

But never met this Fellow
Attended or alone
Without a tighter Breathing
And Zero at the Bone. 

Further in Summer than the Birds (895)

Further in Summer than the Birds – 
Pathetic from the Grass – 
A minor Nation celebrates
It’s unobtrusive Mass.

No Ordinance be seen –
So gradual the Grace
A gentle Custom it becomes –
Enlarging Loneliness –

Antiquest felt at Noon –
When August burning low
Arise this spectral Canticle
Repose to typify –

Remit as yet no Grace – 
No furrow on the Glow,
But a Druidic Difference
Enhances Nature now – 

The Angle of a Landscape (578)

The Angle of a Landscape – 
That every time I wake – 
Between my Curtain and the Wall
Opon an ample Crack – 

Like a Venetian – waiting – 
Accosts my open eye – 
Is just a Bough of Apples – 
Held slanting, in the Sky – 

The Pattern of a Chimney – 
The Forehead of a Hill – 
Sometimes – a Vane’s Forefinger – 
But that’s – Occasional – 

The Seasons – shift – my Picture –
Opon my Emerald Bough,
I wake – to find no – Emeralds – 
Then – Diamonds – which the Snow

From Polar Caskets – fetched me –
The Chimney – and the Hill – 
And just the Steeple’s finger – 
These – never stir at all – 

A Bird, came down the Walk (359)

A Bird, came down the Walk –
He did not know I saw – 
He bit an Angle Worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,

And then, he drank a Dew
From a convenient Grass – 
And then hopped sidewise to the Wall
To let a Beetle pass –

He glanced with rapid eyes,
That hurried all abroad – 
They looked like frightened Beads, I thought,
He stirred his Velvet Head. –

Like one in danger, Cautious,
I offered him a Crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers,
And rowed him softer Home –

Than Oars divide the Ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon,
Leap, plashless as they swim

wild nights

‘Wild Nights with Emily’ Screening and Director’s Q&A, October 26, 2019

wild nights with emilyJoin us for free screening of the SxSW dramatic comedy ‘Wild Nights with Emily,’ — starring Molly Shannon as the beloved poet Emily Dickinson. Followed by a Q&A with director Madeleine Olnek, and Emily Dickinson Museum curator Jane Wald. Don’t miss this opportunity to see the movie IndieWire called “hilarious” and “touching”! 

Location: The screening will take place in Lipton Lecture Hall in the Amherst College Science Center on the east side of campus from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The hall is room E110 and is located on the first floor by the cafe.

Parking: Parking is available along East Drive and Merrill Science Drive and no permit is required (even if indicated).

About the Film

In the mid-19th century, Emily Dickinson is writing prolifically, baking gingerbread, and enjoying a passionate, lifelong relationship with another woman, her friend and sister-in-law Susan. Beloved comic Molly Shannon leads in this humorous yet bold reappraisal of Dickinson, informed by her private letters. While seeking publication of some of the 1,789 poems written during her lifetime, Emily (Shannon) finds herself facing a troupe of male literary gatekeepers too confused by her genius to take her work seriously. Instead her work attracts the attention of an ambitious woman editor, who also sees Emily as a convenient cover for her own role in buttoned-up Amherst’s most bizarre love triangle.

About the Filmmaker

Madeleine Olnek is a New York City based playwright and filmmaker. Her third feature film, Wild Nights With Emily, was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and awards from NYSCA and Jerome Foundation funds. Her second feature, The Foxy Merkins, included screenings at Sundance 2014, BAM Cinemafest, Lincoln Center, and an NYC theatrical run at IFP. The film had its international premiere at the Moscow Film Festival. Her debut feature, Codependent Lesbian Sex Alien Seeks Same, premiered at Sundance 2011. Its screening included MoMa, The Viennale and the Festival do Rio. Nominated for a Gotham award, it had theatrical runs in LA and NYC. Her award-winning and widely screened comedy shorts, “Countertransference” (2009), and “Hold Up” (2006), were official selections of Sundance; “Make Room For Phyllis” (2007) premiered at Sarasota. Olnek was awarded best female short film director at Sundance in 2009, by LA’s Women In Film organization.

Amherst Poetry Festival Workshop Registration

Pre-registration is strongly suggested for the following Festival Workshops:

10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Drawing Poems and Writing Pictures: A Workshop for Children and Adults
  • Saturday, September 21
  • Location TBA

In this family-friendly workshop, multilingual poet María Luisa Arroyo will warmly welcome and guide participants to draw pictures and write new poems. Multicultural and multilingual children’s books, such Francisco Alarcón’s Poems to Dream Together, will inspire participants of all ages and stages to create images and poems using their family or heart language(s). At the end, María Luisa will encourage participants to share their new work. 

10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. “I See What You’re Saying”: A Poetry and Visual Arts Collaboration Workshop
  • Saturday, September 21
  • Location TBA

If a poet creates pictures with words, and an artist tells stories with images, what narrative possibilities emerge when the two work in tandem? This dynamic workshop will share inspiration, strategies, and prompts for creating imagery in response to words, creating words in response to imagery, and experimenting with the real-time collaborative high jinks of mixing the two. Participants will look at highlights from landmark collaborations by Frank O’Hara and Larry Rivers, Anne Carson and Bianca Stone. This workshop is perfect for all levels in either writing or visual art. Participants will leave feeling electrified by new ways of thinking and creating and with an original visual/verse piece! 

Please fill out the form below to secure your space. You will receive a success message once your form has submitted. An Amherst Poetry Festival representative will contact you via email with a confirmation and more information.

This form is disabled.