Fame is a fickle food by Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson was born on the 10th December, 1830. 

She died in 1886. 

Eighty nine years later, in 1955, someone finally decided it might be a good idea to publish her poems in an 'unimproved' version.

So there we have proof: the world was ever quite quite bonkers.

It's true that Emily Dickinson was never an obvious celeb. She was never fashionable, and she became more and more reclusive as she got older. She was also unmarried and female, which at the time* didn't make her an obvious source of genius.

But genius there was in plenty. To give you some idea, this poem is numbered 1659.

Fame is a fickle food

Fame is a fickle food
Upon a shifting plate
Whose table once a
Guest but not
The second time is set

Whose crumbs the crows inspect
And with ironic caw
Flap past it to the Farmer's Corn -
Men eat of it and die.

Word To Use Today: Emily. Emily comes from the Roman family name Aemilius, which means trying to equal or excel, from aemulus, which means rival.

*at the time: ha!