Poems on Simple Things (A poem)

By Joyce Jacobo

[Author’s Note: Inspired by an dedicated to Emily Dickinson, who wrote so much poetry that her family apparently didn’t realize everything she had done until after she had passed away. It sounds as if, on inspecting her room, they became to find pieces here and there. Almost like a treasure hunt.]

I read of a woman who led a quiet life

  surrounded by nature and family

  although she would write poems

  focused on simple everyday things

Like descriptions of rooms in her home . . .

  or tales heard from people in her hometown . . .

  thoughts that she mused over at night . . .

  and concerns she had for the future . . .

The woman wrote her poetry on notepaper

   on the pages of journals

   in the margins of new clippings

   even across unblemished napkins

She never threw these reflections away

    but tucked them into nooks and crannies

    of the numerous rooms throughout her home

    just simple little writings to glimpse at odd moments

When the woman had passed away

    family members began to discover the poems

    hidden by their loved one in unexpected places

    and searched for all the pieces of her

    that she had left for them to find

Those family members published the poetry

     discovered by this fertile creative mind

     who went by the name…

      of Emily Dickinson