I'm Somebody

Emily Dickinson wrote:
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us - don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know!

How dreary to be somebody!
How public like a frog
To tell one's name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!


MY REPLY WHEN I WAS 15:
I’M SOMEBODY
[A REPLY TO EMILY DICKINSON'S “I'M NOBODY”]

I’M SOMEBODY! YOU KNOW IT’S TRUE.
AREN’T YOU - SOMEBODY - TOO?
I HOPE WE CAN BE A PAIR!
SO THERE! IT’S LESS LONELY - YOU KNOW!

HOW DREARY - TO BE - NOBODY!
HOW LONESOME - LIKE THE MIST -
TO SHOUT YOUR NAME - IN EMPTINESS -
TO PROVE THAT YOU EXIST!

SHARISA JOY
4-24-94