And so begins one of Emily Dickinson's most notable pieces, "I Heard a Fly Buzz...."..... 

I recall my first taste of Dickinson, coming across this particular poem in English class all the way back to middle school or so.  I remember the struggle at the time to understand the meaning that might lie behind those few short lines of carefully chosen words.   What did the author mean...?  A Fly.  Somebody's death.  Buzzing.  ???   But I was intrigued, and my interest piqued enough in that classroom all those years ago, that I, as have so many others, went on to become a fan of her unique, unconventional writing style.....

An expressive composer of over 1700 poems, Emily Dickinson never actually received wide recognition within her lifetime.  She was undoubtedly an introvert -- something I can surely relate to.  An intensely private person, she instead became known more for her near reclusiveness in her later years and her penchant for wearing all white than she ever did for her writing. It was only after her death, when her secret stash of writings was discovered by a relative, that the astonishing scope of her work was finally revealed.

Emily Dickinson never married nor had children, but we can all agree she gave birth to a legacy of another kind: an incredible body of poetic verse, that continues to speak to us today nearly two centuries later. Thus I portray Miss Dickinson in this, my tribute portrait, in a dress of white, along with a friendly fly to keep her company....

(This is my 2nd in a series of tribute paintings to the great American poet, Emily Dickinson.  The first is here)