Retirement: In Honor of Emily

Photo credit: Amherst College Library

I am retired as of June 1. I had wondered what emblazoned T-shirt I would wear the first day. From a subconscious choice, I picked one I bought in 2013 at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA. I have not worn it much, wanting to save it, for some reason. But such conservatism seems silly now.

It contains the first three lines of this poem:

I’m Nobody! Who are you?

Are you – Nobody – too?

Then there’s a pair of us!

Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know!

How dreary – to be – Somebody!

How public – like a Frog –

To tell one’s name – the livelong June

–To an admiring Bog!

I don't consider this one of her best poems--not sure what I would pick on that account, since there are so many, but it is fun and it fits now that I am retired. At least as far as my former employer goes.

I'm (sort of) a retired Nobody, as far as that organization goes.

Nobody there is going to come to me for help, advice, wisdom. Well, they might, but I have no authority. I can't help them much. Sure, I will still have relationships with people and the institution, but I'm not important. I can't say, "I'm a professor at..." any longer. I have lost clout.

And that's fine. I have a reputation beyond that, anyway. And it is dreary to be Somebody. I don't think she is saying frogs are public, but that they croak all day, and a nonfamous person need not do that to keep up their fame. "To an admiring Bog!" fits the atmosphere of a frog and puts the public on a low footing; we would think swamp or wetland in my part of the country. A bog is not too intelligent.

And it is June! After all the rain we have had, June is busting out all over.