A poem of draining life was Dickinson's delight. She once wrote, A poem is a poem if hearing it makes all strength to leave; & puts our nature in a freeze, like removing the cranial cap with an emotional thunderclap. One day I heard such a poem, like nothing heard before, chilling my blood and bone. Sliced to the very core. Silenced to a statue, I had to pull off the road, it suggested Emily's test how she loved death's ode the best. No contrivance at our last just a grim theme-- a gurgling scream..........
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