I really never thought I would hear an Emily Dickinson reference on the Food Network, but thanks to Alton Brown on the most recent release of Iron Chef America this evening, I have now heard it with my own ears. Mr. Brown begins the show by reading Dickinson’s lines that say “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers — / That perches in the soul . . .” and then he embellishes the fact that such serene things are competitively “crushed” by the powerful and awesome Iron Chefs in their Kitchen Stadium. Actually having some experience reading this poem made the laugh even bigger for me as I listened to Mr. Brown’s version. Literature is not extinct!