Emily Dickinson

A Drunkard cannot meet a Cork

Summary


"A Drunkard cannot meet a Cork" is a short poem that turns a simple January fly into a spark of intoxicating memory. A speaker is sent reeling by Jamaicas of remembrance, while the moderate drinker of delight misses the true spring. With playful wit and vivid imagery, the poem sets the jug against the joy and leaves the bumble bee as the true connoisseur's guide. Read it online and savor its tipsy, tender mood.

Read Online

A Drunkard cannot meet a Cork
Without a Revery—
And so encountering a Fly
This January Day
Jamaicas of Remembrance stir
That send me reeling in—
The moderate drinker of Delight
Does not deserve the spring—
Of juleps, part are the Jug
And more are in the joy—
Your connoisseur in Liquours
Consults the Bumble Bee—

Watercolor of a woman dreamily watching a fly on a glass beside a cork, illustrating A Drunkard cannot meet a Cork
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Credits

Emily Dickinson was a reclusive 19th-century American poet whose compact, dash-filled verses reshaped poetry. Most of her nearly 1,800 poems appeared only after her death in 1886, and this one finds her sipping on nature's wonders instead of wine.