Love is a Thing with Caroline
Anonymous
Found 03/2014, Goodwill (Metric and 183)

Hope is the thing with feathers/that perches in my soul,
And sings the tune without the words/and never stops at all…
I’ve heard it in the chillest land/and on the strangest Sea
Yet never, in Extremity/it asked a crumb of me. – Emily Dickinson

Caroline strikes a difficult balance of sincerity and obsession. The artist’s heart is exposed, with dripping paint that suggests blood but, conspicuously, is not blood: an expression of love without horror. The use of Dickinson’s poetry likewise softens what might be an overwhelming message: Dickinson’s bird of hope is a creature that never gives up, likewise, never demands. We can only hope that Caroline appreciated the literary allusion in full.