DC Playwrights

looking up from his book, squirrel said,
“good stuff that emily dickenson,”
“know her work?”
“yes,” i said.
“powerful imagery,”
added the squirrel.
“use of metaphor – profound.”
”yes,” i said.

“do you know the poem,
i heard a squirrel buzz when i died?”
“i think she wrote 'fly',” i said.
“really?” said the squirrel.
“pretty sure,” i said.
“i think 'squirrel' is a better image,
metaphorically,” replied the squirrel.
“'fly' makes better use of assonance,”
i explained, “goes with 'i' and 'died'.”

“hmm,” said the squirrel.
“besides, squirrels don’t buzz,” i added.
“it’s onomatopoeia,” said the squirrel.
“i know that, but still –
squirrels don’t buzz.”

reading from the complete emily dickenson,
squirrel edition,
squirrel asked,
“do you know the poem,
because i could not stop for squirrel?”