Richard Pelletier's Photography Journal

{ writer + photographer }

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Because I Could Not Stop for Death

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Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Emily Dickinson


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 –

She Wore Blue Velvet

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She wore blue velvet Bluer than velvet was the night Softer than satin was the light From the stars She wore blue velvet Bluer than velvet were her eyes Warmer than May her tender sighs Love was ours Ours a love I held tightly Feeling the rapture grow Like a flame burning brightly But when she left, gone was the glow of Blue velvet But in my heart there'll always be Precious and warm, a memory Through the years And I still can see blue velvet Through my tears

I see this sunflower, and the next thing rolling around in my head is the whole Blue Velvet dance card — the movie, the lyrics, the song, David Lynch, Isabella Rossellini singing Blue Velvet, Laura Dern, Dennis Hopper as Frank Booth. Filmed in Lumberton (based on Lynch’s hometown of Spokane, Washington) Blue Velvet depicts a town (perennial blue skies, white picket fences, lush, cultivated gardens) that looks like a perfect slice of Americana, if finding a sliced-off human ear in a field is Americana-ish. RIP Dennis Hopper. “Pabst Blue Ribbon!”