Category: Poetry Foundation

I've Had My Philz

10/11/2025

On one hand, I’m at a loss for words. On the other hand, this account might drag on a bit because I have so much to say – but I promise, I’ll try to be succinct.

The issue at hand: In the past I have sent TWO inquiries to the Poetry Foundation, and I NEVER hear back from them.

The first issue had to do with the numbering of Dickinson’s “It sifts from Leaden Sieves.” I believe I first wrote about it on March 25, 2024 – and at that time I said, “I have emailed and called the Poetry Foundation a few times about this error on their site, and they have NEVER emailed or called back.” (My post about it is HERE).

After additional emails and calls, I even visited the Poetry Foundation on July 27, 2024; however, since it was a Saturday, no on was there who could help.

In a post dated August 3, 2024 (HERE), I wrote, “I was completely frustrated! What was I to do? …Well, I did what any frustrated person would do on the streets of Chicago when faced with a palpable situation: I walked over to Philz Coffee and enjoyed some ‘Philtered’ cold brew and a Homer Simpson doughnut”

I think you can see the tension and anger in my face.

I finally heard back from someone at the Foundation on August 20, 2024 – literally MONTHS after my first inquiry (info on their response and follow-up is HERE).

The second issue involves an email I sent on August 25 of this year about an essay on the PF site (with info related to something I’d discussed in a post about Dickinson’s poem “There’s been a Death, in the Opposite House,” HERE). The essay is “By William Carlos Williams,” who died in 1963, but the page states, “Originally Published: October 13, 2009” – so I asked for some clarification on that.

NO RESPONSE.

I emailed again on September 4th.

NO RESPONSE.

I emailed again on September 18th.

NO RESPONSE.

I visited the Poetry Foundation on September 27th. Again, it was a Saturday, so no one was there who could answer my question. However, I spoke to a receptionist there who forwarded my inquiry on to someone who supposedly could help.
Once again, what was I to do? I marched down the street two blocks to Philz and downed another Homer Simpson donut.

I think you can see the tension and anger in my face.

For more details on all of this — and info on how other organizations have responded when I’ve emailed questions — click HERE.

SPOILER ALERT: The Emily Dickinson Museum holds the prize for quickest response — answering an email AND updating their website with a correction — all within five minutes.

Service Call

9/5/2025

It was the best of service, it was the worst of service – a tale of two cities, Chicago and Boston – the Poetry Foundation and Harvard University.

I don’t know if this just happens to me, or if others experience this too, but whenever I submit a question or a clarification to the Poetry Foundation, I get nothing in return. Zilch. Zero. Nada.

It’s not like I bombard them with questions – I’m basically talking about TWO inquiries – but the first one went on for MONTHS. If interested in the details, check out this post, HERE.

Back in August, I submitted a second question.

**crickets**

I followed up today with a second request for help, and I added additional email addresses on the email too. So far I’ve received one automatic “out of office” reply, but that’s it (BTW, the reply stated, “I'm currently out of the office and will not be checking my email until September 9, 2025. I will reply to you as quickly as I can when I return.” We’ll see.)

Also, this morning, I sent notification to the online Emily Dickinson Archive – via a Library Technology Services Support form at Harvard University – about an error on the Dickinson site (by the way, the error was the focus on my post today, HERE).

I made my submission at 9:45 a.m. At 2:59 p.m., someone named Julie at LTS forwarded my inquiry to someone named Leslie. At 4:21, Leslie emailed me: “Thanks for taking the time to report the error. You’re right, it’s definitely an OCR error. It will eventually get corrected, in the next round of updates.”

Of course, the next thing I did was search, “What does OCR mean?”

Turns out that OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition, the technology that converts different types of documents, such as scanned paper documents, image files, and PDFs, into editable and searchable machine-readable text.

Well, that makes sense (considering what I wrote about today, HERE).

There you have it folks. Two inquiries, two institutions, and two approaches to customer service.

Fly Paper

12/2/2024

Yesterday I posted Emily Dickinosn’s “Fly – fly – but as you fly.”

Many years ago I was in Chicago for a Poetry Slam at the Green Mill. I was not a competitor but a guest – I was there to recite poems by Emmett Lee Dickinson, Emily’s third cousin, twice removed (at her request).

While in Chicago, I visited the Poetry Foundation, and while in their library, I pulled a book of Dickinson’s poetry from a shelf. That’s when I first came across “Fly – fly – but as you fly.” I had never seen this poem before.

Later, when I was back home, I checked Thomas Johnson’s “The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson” to revisit the poem – but it was not included in the book. Say whaaa?

I contacted someone – I think a reference library at the Houghton Library at Harvard – and discovered the poem was to be found in Franklin’s edition of Dickinson's poems. That’s when I realized that Johnson’s 1960 volume was no longer “complete,” following Franklin’s 1998 update.

That’s when I began comparing the poems between the two editions.

Both have “Awake ye muses nine, sing me a strain divine” as the first poem, but that’s where the similarities end. Johnson’s number 2 is not found in Franklin at all. Johnson’s numbers 3, 4 and 5 are Franklin’s 2, 3, and 4. Johnson’s number 6 is Franklin’s number 24, and Johnson’s number 7 is Franklin’s 16.

Johnson’s 8 and 9 are Franklin’s 42 and 43, and Johnson’s 10 is Franklin’s 61.

Johnson’s volume includes 1775 poems; the last one in the book is “The earth has many keys.” This poem does not appear in Franklin at all. The Franklin edition includes a total of 1789 poems, and the final poem is “The saddest noise, the sweetest noise” (#1764 in Johnson).

“Fly – fly – but as you fly,” poem number 1244 in Franklin, was written in 1872. It was not included in previous editions because it was kept “among the prose fragments” and thought to be “raw material for a poem.”

The poem was written in pencil on the back of a flier advertising a decorated one-volume edition of “The Children’s Crusade” by George Zabriskie Gray. On the same page is a prose draft beginning “Paradise is no Journey.”

More on this tomorrow.

CONTINUED...

Yesterday I posted information about Emily Dickinson’s “Fly – fly – but as you fly.”

The poem was written in pencil on the back of a flier advertising a decorated one-volume edition of “The Children’s Crusade” by George Zabriskie Gray. On the same side as the poem is a prose draft beginning “Paradise is no Journey.”

What was the Children’s Crusade? From Wikipedia, I found this:

“The Children's Crusade (1212) was a failed Popular Crusade by the West to regain the Holy Land. The traditional narrative includes some factual and some mythical events including visions by a French boy and a German boy, an intention to peacefully convert Muslims to Christianity, bands of children marching to Italy, and children being sold into slavery. Thomas Fuller referred to it as a Holy war in his Historie of the Holy Warre.”

Who was George Zabriskie Gray? I found this info, HERE

I even found Gray’s book that was advertised on the flyer, HERE.

Response-sible Behavior

9/15/2024

If you check these posts out regularly then you might know of my “one man crusade” dealing with the Poetry Foundation – and believe it or not, it has finally been resolved.

In a nutshell, here’s the issue: There are five extant versions of Dickinson’s poem “They fall from Leaden Sieves.” The Johnson edition of “complete poems” includes a 5-stanza version and has it numbered as 311. The Franklin edition of Dickinson’s poems includes a 3-stanza version of the poem and has it numbered as 291.

If you check these posts out regularly then you might know of my “one man crusade” dealing with the Poetry Foundation – and believe it or not, it has finally been resolved.

In a nutshell, here’s the issue: There are five extant versions of Dickinson’s poem “They fall from Leaden Sieves.” The Johnson edition of “complete poems” includes a 5-stanza version and has it numbered as 311. The Franklin edition of Dickinson’s poems includes a 3-stanza version of the poem and has it numbered as 291.

The Poetry Foundation’s site has the Johnson version of the poem – but Franklin’s number.

I contacted the Foundation several times dating back to last December or January. No response.

I contacted them again in April and May. No response.

I called them and either left voice mail messages – OR – I gave the info to a Foundation receptionist who said they’d pass it along to the “right person.” No response.

I attempted to enlist the help of others at the Dickinson Museum in Amherst via email, and in each case – no response.

I was in Chicago in June, so I visited the Foundation on a Saturday morning. I told the receptionist the issue. Again, he said he’d pass it on to the “right person” – AND – he gave me his email address so that I could type out all the info as well. I told him I’d do this once I got home from my travels.

Once home, I emailed him. No response – from either my email or my in-person visit.

I DM’d the Poetry Foundation on their Instagram account, but I received an automated response stating that inquiries should use the email address I’d used all along. However, lo and behold, someone did respond; they appologized for having had such trouble in contacting them, and they gave me a different email address to use.

I emailed that address, and… no response.

Ten days after emailing the receptionist I had spoken to in person, I emailed him again to ask if he’d even received my email (wondering if my inquiry had ended up in a spam folder). This time he responded.

His answer came on a Monday. He said that yes, he had received my email, and yes he’d forwarded the info. He said he’d forward it again, and that if I did not hear anything “by the end of the week,” to contact him again.

That Wednesday, I heard from a digital archivist at the Foundation. He apologized for all the troubles I’d encountered, and he said this:

“I've looked into this a bit and want to make sure I'm seeing what you're seeing. The version of the poem that was reprinted in the archive is cited as from the Franklin Variorum Edition, Harvard UP, 1998. I took a photo of this poem printed in that edition, and it is correctly titled and numbered using version A of the poem (the earliest, sent in a letter in 1862); see the photo attached. As far as I can tell, it's all cited and reproduced correctly, but please let me know if I'm missing information about this poem's provenance (I'm not a Dickinson scholar).

Since Dickinson poems exist in many versions, do you think it would be helpful to readers for me to add a note that this version of the poem appeared in a letter from 1862? I'm happy to help clarify that in the citation info.”

Sooo…tomorrow I’ll conclude with how all of this was resolved.

CONTINUED...

Finally, a resolution to an issue I’ve been involved with:

THE PROBLEM:

* There are five extant versions of “It sifts from Leaden Sieves” by Emily Dickinson.

* On its website, the Poetry Foundation includes the 5-stanza version found in Johnson’s edition of Dickinson’s “complete poems,” number 311.

* The Foundation has the poem numbered 291 – the number used in the Franklin edition of Dickinson’s poems.

* However, number 291 in Franklin is a 3-stanza version of the poem, and the only thing it shares in common with the 5-stanza version of the poem is the first stanza.

THE RESOLUTION:

Sooo…after many months of inquiry via email, telephone calls, DMs, on Instagram, and even a personal visit to the Foundation – all with no responses – I finally heard from a digital archivist at the Foundation who was willing to look into this matter.

Basically, there were three ways the problem could be resolved:

* The PF could change the number to 311 to match Johnson’s edition of Dickinson’s poetry; however, I believe they use Franklin’s numbering system for all of their other poems by Dickinson.

* The PF could change their version of the poem – from Johnson’s 311 to Franklin’s 291.

* Add a note to explain that the Franklin Variorum Edition includes all five versions of 291, and that they have published a 5-stanza version while Franklin’s readers edition includes another — and this is the option the Foundation landed on.

The digital archivist and I communicated a couple of times, a note has been added, and I have promised to deliver to him donuts and coffee when next I visit Chicago.

A link to the Foundation's page with the poem -- and note -- is HERE.

Sooo...it looks like I can cancel the nation-wide protest I had planed for next March 11 (i.e., 311 -- Johnson's number for the poem) had the issue not been resolved.
Okay...so what's the next matter of importance I need to tackle? : - D

You've Got Mail

8/21/2024

The time has come the old man said
To talk of many things –
Of poetry and Dickinson
And news my email brings!

Yes, I FINALLY heard back from someone at the Poetry Foundation about an issue I’ve been emailing (and calling) about for months. LOL – I almost fell over when I saw that I’d been contacted!

Here’s the background:

Emily Dickinson never published any of her poetry during her lifetime – except for a handful of poems submitted to various publications by friends and her sister-in-law – and all of those were published anonymously. Plus, she did not number her poems.

The first publication of selected poems came out posthumously, and that was in 1890. Following that, other volumes – again, of selected poems -- came out in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

It was not until 1955 that Thomas Johnson compiled and published a volume of the “complete poems” of Dickinson, and he numbered the poems from earliest to latest. Then in 1998, R. W. Franklin revisited Dickinson’s “complete works,” and he published an updated volume of her works – and his numbering system differed from Johnson’s.

Sooo…most people, when reading Dickinson, refer to the poems by their “Johnson” numbers or by their “Franklin” numbers. For example, “Because I could not stop for Death,” is number 712 in Johnson, and it is number 479 in Franklin.

That brings me to Dickinson’s poem “It sifts from leaden sieves,” a poem about snowfall.

Interestingly, five different versions of this poem exist, and one five-stanza version is included of Johnson’s compilation as number 311, and a different three-stanza version appears in Franklin’s work as number 291. The only thing the two poems share is the first stanza.

Okay, so this is where the Poetry Foundation comes in: The have the five-stanza version of the poem (Johnson 311), but they have it listed with the Franklin number, 291 (the three-stanza version of the poem). I contacted them on multiple/many occasions about this discrepancy, and they NEVER responded – until now. I received an email from a Digital Archivist at the Foundation.

So what did he say? And why the discrepancy with the numbers? More on all of this tomorrow.

CONTINUED...

To recap from yesterday: A complete edition of Dickinson’s poems was not published until 1955 by Thomas Johnson. R. W. Franklin then took a new look at her poetry, and published an updated “complete” version of her works in 1998.

When it comes to the poem “It sifts from Leaden Sieves,” there are 5 extrant versions. Johnson published a five-stanza version in his book, and it is number 311. Franklin published a different three-stanza version of the poem in his edition, and it is number 291.

The Poetry Foundation has the five-stanza version (Johnson) on their site, but they have it numbered 291 (Franklin).

Now, Franklin did mention all five versions of the poem in his Variorum edition of Dickinson’s poetry – and this Variorum edition collates all known variants of Dickinson’s poems along with Franklin’s notes – and all the variations and emendations are set side by side so that the reader can track how textual decisions were made by the poet.

Sooo…with “It sifts from Leaden Sieves,” all five version as are shown – but in his compilation of her “complete poems,” he published only the three-stanza version (291), different from Johnson’s five-stanza version (311) (the version shown on the Foundation’s site).

Of course, the Variorum is available for purchase (I checked online at my favorite indie bookstore, and the price was $195.00) – so (obviously) most people don’t have the Franklin Variorum edition in their homes. However, most readers of poetry would have a Franklin (or Johnson) edition of Dickinson’s poetry – and that’s where the confusion arises: The Poetry Foundation has Johnson’s version of the poem, but Franklin’s number.

More on this tomorrow!

For more information on Franklin's Variorum edition of Dickinson's poetry, click HERE.

CONTINUED...

Sooo…schools have opened here, I worked all week as a sub (OY…and my feet are feeling it), & I came home & our power was out! We ran off to a local Mexican restaurant, drank & ate, returned home — and the power is still out!

So I’m typing this post with one finger on my phone — so not the easiest task — but most of this will actually be a “copy & paste” post.

I’ve been writing lately about an issue with a Dickinson post on the Poetry Foundation site, and I FINALLY heard from someone at the Foundation

Here’s some of what he said…

“ I'm sorry to hear that you've had trouble reaching us.

I've looked into this a bit and want to make sure I'm seeing what you're seeing. The version of the poem that was reprinted in the archive is cited as from the Franklin Variorum Edition, Harvard UP, 1998.

I took a photo of this poem printed in that edition, and it is correctly titled and numbered using version A of the poem (the earliest, sent in a letter in 1862); see the photo attached. As far as I can tell, it's all cited and reproduced correctly, but please let me know if I'm missing information about this poem's provenance (I'm not a Dickinson scholar).

Since Dickinson poems exist in many versions, do you think it would be helpful o readers for me to add a note that this version of the poem appeared in a letter from 1862?

I'm happy to help clarify that in the citation info. You might have seen the link in the footer to a blog post I wrote about Dickinson and punctuation; we get questions about her work often, and context can always be added.”

Earlier this week I responded:

"“OMG -- thank you so much for emailing me! I've sent in many messages (via the PF's ‘contact us’ feature on the website) emails, phone calls, Ig DMs, etc. -- and I never received any sort of response!

I was able to glance over what you wrote -- and I'll look at it again this weekend and then respond. Currently, I'm getting ready for schools to open tomorrow (I'm a retired principal, and I help at two local middle schools -- so I'm just getting things in order for tomorrow and the rest of the week).

If interested, you can read my (humorous) take on all of this --HERE.

In the attached pic (shown at the right), I'm treating myself to a 'Homer Simpson Donut' at Philz Coffee -- just down the street from the Foundation.

I visit Chicago at least once a year, so next time I'm there, I'll pop in and deliver to you a donut like that and a coffee (if you're a coffee drinker). You have earned it (and I'll bring one for Mr. Antos too). LOL.”

He responded just last night:

“ No problem, and thanks for the offer of the donut and coffee! I appreciate it, and I'm sure Jonathan would, too.

Happy beginning of the school year!”

As Bogart once said (in “Casablanca”), “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

I’ll fill you in once I get a chance to respond to him!

CONTINUED...

What I’ve been writing about the last few days has to do with ”It sifts from leaden sieves”, Dickinson’s poem shown on the Poetry Foundation’s site as the 5-stanza version of the work in Johnson’s edition of “complete poems” numbered 311– although it’s numbered 291, a very different 3-stanza version of the poem that appears in Franklin’s edition of “complete poems.”

Sooo…it turns out that back on August 5th, I heard from the Executive Director of the Emily Dickinson Museum – before I ever heard back from anyone at the Poetry Foundation – but after three emails inquiring about this matter; just FYI: the first e-mail to her was sent on May 30th. No response until my second follow up/third e-mail.

On August 5th she stated, “Since this website (i.e., the Poetry Foundation’s site) is not maintained by the Emily Dickinson Museum, I confess that I didn't at first think it wise for the Museum to add to this discussion.” Okay– I think an email back in May would have been nice – but hey – I did finally hear something.

“However,’ she added, “I believe there's a simple explanation for the numerical identification of ‘It sifts from Leaden Sieves':

The three-volume 1998 Variorum edition of Ralph Franklin's Poems contains five variants of this poem. Version A is one sent to Susan Dickinson in 1862. This is the version that appears on the PF website, and it seems quite proper to present variant A to its readers.

Variant E, sent in 1883 to Thomas Niles, includes only the three quatrains that appear in Franklin's 1998 Reading edition. (You'll notice the letter "E" next to the number "291" on page 129 in that edition identifying it as one of several versions of the poem.) Variants A, B, C, D, E appear in Volume 1, pages 311-314 in the Variorum edition.

The variants can be a little tricky, but in themselves open up a fascinating window into Dickinson's creative practices.”

Below is a pic of 291 in Franklin, and you can see the “E” over by the number. I’ve also included a copy fo the note – which isn’t all that clear – but it is what it is!

I’m going to get back to the archivist at the Foundation and suggest a note be added to the their site to clear up and possible confusion – so more on this later! ;-)

Variety Show

8/6/2024

I have a variety of items today.

1. If you’ve seen my recent #DickinsonDaily posts, then you know about my one-man crusade against the Poetry Foundation (they have one of Dickinson’s poems numbered incorrectly, and I’m trying to get them to fix that). Info is HERE.

Earlier this year I even emailed peeps at the Foundation AND the Emily Dickinson Museum about this issue, and I’d never heard back from any of them – until now! LOL.

Yesterday, I emailed a new contact at the Poetry Foundation (the gentleman at the front desk with whom I spoke when I visited the place in late July), and I copied my email to those I’d written to before just to give them an update.

Well, lo and behold, I heard from one of them – although the response did not, in any way, move my cause forward. LOL. Here’s what she said:

“Thank you for your email, and I'm sorry that I haven't responded. It is a good catch, and I hope that the Poetry Foundation fixes it!

I don't have any connections at the Poetry Foundation to know who to contact.”

I’ll keep you posted as to if/when I hear from anyone else.

2. Did you know that poetry used to be included in the Olympics? Just like the 100 meters, it was an official Olympic competition – but only from 1912 to 1948. This facet of the games was known as the “Pentathlon of the Muses” and medals were awarded for music, literature, poetry, and even architecture.

3. Speaking of the Olympics, did Dickinson ever use the word “Olympic” in any of her poems? Nope.

How about “athlete”? No again.

However, she did use the word “sport” in “She lay as if in play,” a poignant poem about the observation of a dead child.

This theme – of a dead child, particularly a dead girl – was used in more than a handful of poems – and the first line of this one, “She lay as if in play” called to mind another poem, “She died at play.”

Hmm. What is going on in that poem?

Take a look at both of these poems, and then I’ll include more about them tomorrow.

It Was Palpable

8/3/2024

I have just returned from a trip to Chicago, Wisconsin, and Minnesota – more info on that in the coming days – but for now, let me tell you about a bit of serendipity while in Chicago.

We were there because (a) we have one daughter who lives there and (b) we have one daughter who lives in LA – and she (a comedian) was there to headline a show at an Improv Fest – so we met w/family and friends to see the show.

On Saturday we met up at our daughter’s hotel, and it was literally one block from the Poetry Foundation. LOL – if you follow my posts, you might remember that I have a bone to pick with the Poetry Foundation: they have a poem by Dickinson on their site which is numbered incorrectly.

Look below – I have the same poem from the PF site and from Poetry.org, and you’ll notice that one is number 291 (incorrectly) and the other is numbered as 311 (which is correct).

Then in the other pics, you see me approaching the Poetry Foundation – and me at the door about to go in! So stay tuned for more about this tomorrow!

In the meantime, if you'd like to read more about this issue, click HERE and HERE.

CONTINUED...

Anyway, last weekend as we were walking to my daughter's hotel, I spotted signs that clued me into the fact that I was near the Foundation. In pic 1 below, my wife took a pic of me taking a selfie. Pic 2 is the selfie. You can see the tension in my face and know that the situation was palpable.

In the next two pics, I’m walking into the PF’s courtyard. You can see the tension in my walk and know that the situation was palpable.

In the next series of pics, I reached the PF’s doors only to discover that they were locked – the PF didn't open for another hour. You can see the tension in the moment as I beat on the doors and scream that the situation was palpable.

In the final pics, as I departed, you can sense the tension in my face and realize that the situation was palpable.

I was completely frustrated!

What was I to do?

Again, I ask, what was I to do? Well, I did what any frustrated person would do on the streets of Chicago when faced with a palpable situation: I walked over to Philz Coffee and enjoyed some “Philtered” cold brew and a Homer Simpson doughnut.

(Don’t get me started on how the barista didn’t know what I meant when I ordered a “Homer Simpson doughnut.” Now THAT was a palpable situation!)

So, what happened next? I finished my doughnut and coffee, watched the clock, and then returned to the Foundation – and this time I got in.

How did they receive my wrath?

More on this story tomorrow!

OH – I forgot to mention that when I later met up with my daughter and told her about my crusade, I don’t think she appreciated the seriousness of the situation – because my one-man campaign for justice for Dickinson made it into her comedy show later that night.

For some reason, she finds all of this to be humorous.

Aye Yi Yi of the Beholder

6/24/2024

Recently I posted William Carlos Williams’ poem about the red wheelbarrow and various quotes about what makes poetry poetry (HERE).

@grayman (on Counter Social) responded, “My second year of college, one of my instructors stated: ‘What makes a poem a poem? The poet says it is a poem.’”

LOL – that reminded me of a discussion I participated in from a college class on poetry, what makes a poem a poem, individual interpretations of poems, etc.

We examined and discussed this poem:

There’s a bug on the rug –
Smack him dead.
Smack him dead.
There’s a bug on the rug –
Smack him dead.

You would not have believed the wild interpretations we ended up with after we considered (mostly tongue in cheek) who “the bug” represented; what did “the rug” symbolize; the suggestion that “smack” was an allusion to dangerous drugs – and the effect of addiction in society – and who was responsible for ever increasing overdoses, etc.

It definitely brought home the point that when reading (or hearing or viewing) a creative work, “you see what you see” based on your own knowledge, understandings, and experiences as your brain attempts to make sense of it all – AND – if you determine a work is nonsense (like E. E. Cummings’ “l(a”) or meaningless (like WCW’s “so much depends”), then you’re likely to regard the work as nonsense or meaningless without putting much time or effort into exploring what was the purpose of the poet (or artist or composer).

It’s easy to laugh off, discount, and brush aside works we don’t understand.

My wife and I recently visited the Guggenheim Museum of Art in New York. Take a look at these works presented in some of their galleries (click the images to enlarge).

These three pics are from the same work of art:

What are your initial thoughts?

I’ll post info about these works tomorrow – and a poem by E. E. Cummings.

The Fight Continues

5/30/2024

My patience is wearing thin.

The issue: The Poetry Foundation's website includes selected poems by Emily Dickinson, and one (or more?) has the incorrect number. I have written about the issue before -- HERE.

I've called the Poetry Foundation, and they will not return my calls. I did speak to someone one once -- the rep who answered the Foundation's general number -- and she seemed VERY disinterested, although she claimed she would pass my message on to the right person.

I've emailed a contact at the Emily Dickinson Museum twice. No response. Not even "Go away and stop bothering me." LOL.

Sooo...this morning I sent an email to the Executive Director of the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA. I'll see if she responds.

If not, I suppose I will have no other choice than to organize a National Day of Protest.

Here's what I wrote to the ED (Executive Director) of the ED (Emily Dickinson) Museum:

Are you too deeply occupied to say if my Worriment is alive?

The Mind is so near itself – it cannot see; distinctly – and I have none to ask –

Well, to clarify – I have, indeed, asked the Poetry Foundation and contacts at the ED Museum – but to no avail. None have responded – to my telephone messages or emails.

Should you think my concern breaths – and have you the leisure to tell me, I should feel quick gratitude –

If I made the mistake – that you dare not to tell me – maybe just shoot back a quick response to read “Shoo” (or even “Drop dead”?)

I enclose the issue herewith:

As I am sure you are aware, there are TWO well-known versions of “It sifts from Leaden Sieves.” One version is a five-stanza poem, and the other is a three-stanza work – and the only thing they share in common is the first stanza.

The Poetry Foundation has the five-stanza poem inventoried among their selected poems of Dickinson, and they list it as number 291. Ay – there’s the rub –

If you check Johnson 291, it is a different poem, “How the old mountains drip with sunset.”

If you look up “It sifts from Leaden Sievers” in Franklin, it is indeed 291. However, it is the three-stanza version of the poem, not the five-stanza work.

What the Poetry Foundation displays is the Johnson version of the poem numbered as 311. Therefore, they should either RENUMBER the poem to 311 – OR – change their poem to the Franklin, three-stanza version of the poem, 291.

Again, I have contacted representatives at the Poetry Foundation and the ED Museum, but to no avail.

If you please – Ma’am –to tell me what is true?

That you will not betray me – it is needless to ask – since Honor is its own pawn –

LOL -- if any of that sounds familiar, it's because I patterned it on Emily Dickinson's initial letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson:

15 April 1862

Mr Higginson,

Are you too deeply occupied to say if my Verse is alive?

The Mind is so near itself-it cannot see, distinctly-and I have none to ask-

Should you think it breathed- and had you the leisure to tell me, I should feel quick gratitude-

If I make the mistake-that you dared to tell me-would give me sincerer honor-toward you-

I enclose my name-asking you, if you please-Sir-to tell me what is true?

That you will not betray me-it is needless to ask-since Honor is it's own pawn-

What's The 4-1-1 on 3-1-1

3/26/2024

Are you ready for this? Wait till you hear my plans, LOL!

First, before I get to my wild plans, here’s some background:

The Poetry Foundation site includes a biography on Emily Dickinson, and it includes links to pages with many of her poems.

I have not checked all of her poems (I’ll do that at a later date – LOL), but they have the wrong number listed for her poem “It sifts from Leaden Sieves.” Read about it HERE.

I have emailed the Foundation, but they have never responded. I have called and left messages, and they have never called back. I did speak to a receptionist once, but she seemed very disinterested in what I had to say.

The Foundation site includes this blog post, “On Emily Dickinson’s ‘Error’s,’” which explains their practice of “intentionally” representing Dickinson’s writings with her original – albeit incorrect – punctuation and spellings, “recreated from readings of her original manuscripts as published or available in archives.” To read that post, click HERE.

I tend to think that this is why they don’t respond to me. My theory is that they think I’m calling and emailing to report some error on the part of Dickinson that they don’t plan to change. However, I’m not contacting them about some misspelling or misuse of punctuation. I’m contacting them about an error on their part. They’ve misidentified a poem with a wrong number.

For now I’ve reached out to a contact at the Emily Dickinson Museum to see if somewhere there might help me in my quest to right this wrong.

I’ll update you once I hear back from the ED Museum; however, in the back of my mind, I have one other move up my sleeve: I will organize a nation-wide day of protest. LOL – I’ll coordinate this “major event” with a trip to Chicago to visit my daughter. Maybe in August?

I don’t have a definite date yet – so hold the entire month open on your calendars! Ha ha!

I’m thinking of calling this the “Sorry, Wrong Number” Protest – or maybe the “What’s the 4-1-1 on the 3-1-1” Protest (the poem’s correct number is J311).

This will be a hoot! Stay tuned!

Below: What the "4-1-1 on 3-1-1" protest might look like in front of the Poetry Foundation in Chicago.