So, Billy Collins likes to imagine he is having sex with Emily Dickinson then?

Well, why not? It's certainly one way to respond to what Collins describes as the 'speculation' surrounding the exact nature of Dickinson's sexuality, as he does in 'Taking off Emily Dickinson's clothes' (see previous post for a recitation). It's also his way of saying, 'Does it really matter?' Was she gay? Straight? Did she have a secret lover? Did she die a virgin? Collins invents the scene of a seduction (between he and she) that we know never happened and yet it is exactly that - undeniably seductive. And heterosexual. And prolonged, simply by virtue of the multitude of garments that must be contended with before Emily is permitted to 'sigh' in anticipation of what will surely be an acomplished ravishing at the hands of Collins' 'polar explorer'. The poem exists; the story of Emily's sexual encounter has been created and compellingly told. Does it matter anymore whether it really happened? Whether it could have happened? In fact, does what happened to Emily in any aspect of her life matter to us, as writers/creators, at all?

Listen to Terri Gross' interview with Billy Collins in full (it is a very interesting 'listen') (http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=128272101&m=128334541) and you will hear him further discuss the relevance of author biography in specific relation to Emily Dickinson. He is, at times, uneqivocal on the matter, stating 'I prefer the poems to the life.' He also makes the point that, 'Biographical curiousity would not exist were it not for the poems themselves.' Collins tells us that the poems of Dickinson are sufficient in their own right 'to pull us in' and that we don't need to know the details of the author's background and experience to appreciate, understand and respond to their work.

The interviewer cheerfully insists that they, themselves, remain interested in Dickinson's life in the manner of a polite, yet enthusiastic, contradiction. But then Collins also contradicts himself. He acknowledges the 'New England surrealism' created by Dickinson's use of 'amazing metaphors' and the 'radical' approach to religion portrayed in, specifically, 'Some keep the Sabbath going to Church', thus making the link between both the geographical and theological nature of her existence when discussing the content of her poems.

There is so much more to say about both Dickinson and the service, or otherwise, of a disputed biography to the writer searching to make sense of their own work in the shadows of those that have gone before. This will hopefully serve as a beginning, of sorts.

And I still have to address the 'Insistent Camel' reference... You could always read the Introduction in Margaret Atwood's Negotiating with the Dead and discover it for yourself. Do you, I wonder, agree that the writer in you, your motivation to write in fact, is, indeed, the 'insistent camel' that propels your writing life?

I'll leave you to ponder that as I depart to seek inspiration from some of those 'amazing' Dickinson metaphors that Collins spoke about...