ModPo 2013 #3 The Power of a Focused Mind: On Emily Dickinson's "The Brain, within its Groove"

Friedrich Eduard Bilz (1842–1922): Das neue Naturheilverfahren (75. Jubiläumsausgabe). Public domain picture.

Note: I am currently taking a course on Coursera.org called Modern and Contemporary American Poetry taught by Al Filreis of the University of Pennsylvania. I will be posting my thoughts on the course discussions here.

Emily Dickinson is the epitome of a powerful mind at work. I thoroughly enjoyed the video discussion once again and I'm glad to have listened in because I would have missed the shift in metaphor and would have gotten thoroughly confused in the process.

Is poetry valuable for its puzzlement? I know that some people find themselves "afflicted" by poetry. Who needs that much work in their lives? Maybe I'm a masochist! But I love this precise power in language.

I liked how Al Filreis talked about the connection between this poem and captains of industry. They would understand the destruction of capital that Dickinson illustrates in her second stanza and, also, they would appreciate that the mind is the first capital. In fact, today, innovation is the key differentiator in any business. So, it was really great to make this connection, especially since I come from the digital industry.

I acknowledge the power of the mind. More than that, I acknowledge the power of the focused mind. It is easy to get distracted. Our digital devices and all the content in them can scatter anyone's brain this way and that. So I really appreciated the second stanza: the focused mind is more powerful than the most destructive forces of nature. What an idea!

I have a busy schedule so I ended up tackling this poem at midnight. Just sharing the resulting poem.

Dickinson at Midnight

My brain has lost its groove
wandering aimlessly---
To return to the poet's frame!
It would be easier for me---

To right the war in Syria,
bring down Manila floods,
block all Facebook walls,
return our planet to the gods.

I guess you can see from here that I was not a focused mind. Sleepy!

Update as of 2013-09-12

Dickinson at Midnight

It is easy to get distracted
from working the beautiful puzzle--
a hundred lines of prose,
a hundred swerves,
a hundred slants
block the doors, the windows.

Before sleep reaches for me
I contemplate her narrow hands.
I want to dwell in that paradise
where the light does not blind,
in that fair house where for
occupation I have this --

---------------------------

One last update as of Sept. 12, 2013. I credit some of my poet friends for this revision:

Dickinson at Midnight

It is easy to get distracted
from working the puzzle
of possibility.
I am lost in the swerve
and slant of living.

Before sleep reaches for me
I contemplate her narrow hands.
I want to dwell in that paradise
where the light does not blind.