A Terror by Jeffrey Ford
My rating: 4/5 cats
Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.
We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –
We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –
Or rather – He passed us –
The Dews drew quivering and chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –
Since then – ’tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity –
it’s not a spoiler to say that this is a short story about a meeting between emily dickinson and capital-d death. with this line in the second paragraph: Only when a fly buzzed against the windowpane did she remember everything, any emily dickinson fan worth their salt will know what that portends.
but the repercussions of that meeting—ah—that is for you to discover.
this story positively drips with references to her poetry, her imagery-palette, and her life, and also puts a deliciously macabre spin on the poetry written after these events would have taken place.
it is worth reading for a) her sniffy dismissal of walt whitman “The man’s pen has dysentery” and b) some of the most disgusting imagery i have ever had the pleasure of reading, which is visually represented by this “cover”:
always such great artwork on these tor freebies!
read it for yourself here:
http://www.tor.com/stories/2013/07/a-…
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