Monday, October 13, 2008

Oh, That Cheery Emily!

[Media] The D-News needs to bone up on its Emily Dickinson:

In a column fretting that prescription painkillers "have become more plentiful than popcorn," it quotes Dickinson as having written: "First we seek excuse from pain."

Actually, excuse from pain was second on Dickinson's list. Here's the poem:
The heart asks pleasure first,
And then, excuse from pain;
And then, those little anodynes
That deaden suffering,

And then, to go to sleep;
And then, if it should be
The will of its Inquisitor,
The liberty to die.
Also, wouldn't "excuse from pain" be the fortunate lot of those who don't need painkillers? It's "those little anodynes" in the third category that the D-News worries are too ubiquitous.

I've got a toothache today, so I can totally relate to Dickinson.

(Brandon Burt)

1 comment:

  1. The irony would be funny if it weren't so sad. Utahn's preach and preach against drug use, and yet, many of these Utahn preachers are addicted to the legal drugs their legal pushers prescribe for them. Yeah, that'd be your doctor. Ever notice how they're not really good for much besides writing scrips?

    If these uptight preacher assholes would just lighten up, smoke a doob and have a beer or two, they'd be happier. No need for prozac, no need for zanax, no need for scripture.

    Pills bad. Marijuana good.

    ReplyDelete

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