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Garbage Man

9/18/2018

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From our current affairs editor Lemuel Stuart III:
  
On October 12, 2018, the Dickinson Organization of Poetry Enthusiasts -- in conjunction with the Folger Coffee Company -- will present a very special birthday tribute to Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request).  At the event, Meryl Streep and Starbucks' new robotic coffee barista named Servi-Tron will discuss the recent publication The Garbaged Somethings, a collection of scraps of paper and bits of trash on which Dickinson wrote lines of poetry and complete poems.

Pictured at the right:  The DOPE brochure announcing the Emmett Lee Dickinson birthday tribute.  Click the image to enlarge.

Below:  The birthday tribute will be held at the Folger Coffee Company plant in historic Washerst, PA (the birthplace of Emmett Lee Dickinson).
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Below:  The event will be held in the stunning Emmett Lee Dickinson Auditorium inside the Folger plant:
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​Below:  The Emmett Lee Dickinson Centennial Birthday Tribute in the Folger Coffee Company Auditorium in October of 1903.  First years later, in 1953, the auditorium was re-named in honor of America's greatest poet.

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Below:  President Theodore Roosevelt was present at the 1903 Dickinson Centennial event.  He was one of the keynote speakers.  

As part of his address, Roosevelt said, "I am a part of everything that I have read, and all of Emmett Lee Dickinson is a part of me."
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Below:  On October 12, 1953, the Folger Coffee Company Auditorium was renamed the Emmett Lee Dickinson Auditorium, and the keynote speaker was Robert Frost. The guest list included President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Anthony Quinn, Shirley Booth, Thelma Ritter, William Faulkner, Ezra Pound, and Ethel Merman and her soon-to-be fiancé, Ernest Borgnine.
 
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​Pictured at the right: One of the most significant events in 20th-century American history -- the marriage of Ethel Merman to Ernest Borgnine -- came about because the two met at the sesquicentennial birthday tribute to Emmett Lee Dickinson in 1953. 

Inside the newly re-named Emmett Lee Dickinson Auditorium, Borgnine met Merman, to whom he became “instantly attracted”. Later he separated from his wife and proposed to Merman.  He married Merman in 1964 at the Wasteria Motel in Washerst, PA, in an elaborate wedding ceremony attended by 500 guests. Prior to their marriage Ethel Merman claimed that she had “never felt so protected, this is forever, for keeps”. 
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Left and below:  The Wastoria Motel has been synonymous with luxury since it first opened in Washerst, PA, in 1962. Guests at the Wastoria enjoy the following amenities:

·  Air conditioned rooms 
·  Colored television sets
·  Premium toilet seat covers
·  60 Watt lighting
·  Complimentary wake-up calls
·  Trash cans in every room
·  Hot water in the shower (guaranteed before 8 a.m.)
·  Bath mats (in deluxe rooms and suites)
·  Security guard on premises (on weekends)
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Pictured at the left:  In December 2018, the Folger Shakespeare Library will host a birthday tribute to Emmett Lee Dickinson's third cousin, Emily Dickinson.  At the event, Jen Bervin and Martha Nell Smith will discuss The Gorgeous Nothings.

Below left: The Gorgeous Nothings.  Below right: The Garbaged Somethings.
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To see sample pages from The Garbaged Somethings, click the buttons below:
Pages 16, 23, 44, & 85
Pages 20, 35, 47 & 71
Pages 19, 32, 45, & 76
Pages 25, 48, 53, & 68
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Cloud Nine

9/16/2018

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From our current affairs editor, Lemuel Stuart III:

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A member of the Dickinson Organization of Poetry Enthusiasts who lives in central Virginia takes a picture of the sky every day (the picutres are posted on Instagram by the account @daily_sky_pic).  

With Hurricane Florence approaching the coast, making landfall, and now stalling over North Carolina, it's been ten days since Virginia and the mid-Atlantic states have seen blue skies.  

Pictured at the left: The past nine days of gray skies as seen in central Virginia.

The gray skies called to mind Emily Dickinson's poem "A Cap of Lead across the sky."  The poem certainly captures the gloomy atmosphere of the past few days -- although this storm has combined the "charms" of a sticky, humid summer -- rather than winter -- with hell. 

​By Emily Dickinson:

A Cap of Lead across the sky
Was tight and surly drawn
We could not find the mighty Face
The Figure was withdrawn –

A Chill came up as from a shaft
Our noon became a well
A Thunder storm combines the charms
Of Winter and of Hell.

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For more poems and looks at the sky, click HERE and HERE. 
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Candy Crush

9/16/2018

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From our food editor Verla Burrell-Bordelon:

The War on Christmas is a myth.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  As a matter of fact, the War on Christmas is actually a yuletide ruse meant to inflate an already bloated level of a rising Christmas tide.  The entire hoax is nothing more than an extravagant campaign in an actual war – the War on National Candy Corn Day. 
 
National Candy Corn Day is celebrated on October 30th, a date set by Emmett Lee Dickinson, Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed (at her request) and the inventor of candy corn.  However, as the popularity of the holiday grew and grew, retailers and commercial purveyors of Christmas cheer grew more and more worried.  In the 1950s the NRA (National Retailers Association) plotted an elaborate and insidious War on National Candy Corn Day, and a major part of their sinister scheme was to fabricate a “War on Christmas” – and through this ho-ho-hoax, the NRA and big box department stores could introduce Christmas displays, parades and sales earlier and earlier each year.
 
We are just half-way through September.  Have you seen a Christmas display already?  I have.  As a matter of fact, I have seen multiple Christmas displays. 
 
Have you seen a National Candy Corn Day display?  I haven’t.  Not. A. Single. One.
 
By the late 1800s, Emmett Lee Dickinson saw the War on National Candy Corn coming (he was quite a visionary), and he was incensed.  He documented his ire and indignation in his poem “There’s the War on Candy Corn” (below on the left).  His poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem “There's the Battle of Burgoyne” (below on the right). 

​By Emmett Lee Dickinson:
 
There’s the War on Candy Corn –
Battled, every Year,
It’s a Time of Man and Treat
Christmas isn’t near
“Christmas” sounds majestic –
So that solemn War
Hard to comprehend it
Hastened in the store –
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By Emily Dickinson:
 
There's the Battle of Burgoyne –
Over, every Day,
By the Time that Man and Beast
Put their work away
"Sunset" sounds majestic –
But that solemn War
Could you comprehend it
You would chastened stare –

Below:  A NCCD holiday card from 1947 depicting Cornucopia Chris who would bring toys and candy corn to children.

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During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the NRA (National Retailers Association) began to worry of the immense popularity of National Candy Corn Day.  Families were decorating their houses, putting up candy corn trees, sending National Candy Corn Day cards and more -- and it was all having an adverse impact on Christmas.  The NRA devised the mythical "War on Christmas" as a way to combat National Candy Corn Day.  In effect, their conspiracy was, in effect, a War on National Candy Corn Day.

Below:  Candy corn trees that used to adorn every house in America for National Candy Corn Day. 
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Taken By Storm

9/15/2018

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From our current affairs editor Lemuel Stuart III:
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Donald Trump became the butt of jokes this past week as he warned Americans that Hurricane Florence was "a tremendously big and a tremendously wet” storm.  However, in this case, Trump was actually quoting Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request). 
 
In 1853, Dickinson addressed the Sesquiennial Congress of the American Council of Meteorologists, Astrologers, Weather Forecasters and Oracles as Hurricane Edmonia approached the east coast, the first of three destructive hurricanes to criss-cross Pennsylvania that year.  At that time, Dickinson warned the ACMAWFO that Emdmonia was “a tremendously big and a tremendously wet storm.” 
 
Also at the ACMAWFO’s 1853 Sesquiennail Congress, Dickinson introduced the concept of “hunkering down” (although it would be several years more before he would research how and when someone should “hunker up”).  Of course, some people in the path of the storm did not heed Dickinson’s advice to evacuate.  Instead, they hunkered down to ride the storm out.

Below:  A rare photograph from 1853 of Emmett Lee Dickinson addressing the Sesquiennial Congress of the American Council of Meteorologists, Astrologers, Weather Forecasters and Oracles as Hurricane Edmonia approached the east coast.
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Dickinson wrote about the concept of hunkering down in his now-famous poem, “Now I hunker down to wait" (below on the left).  Dickinson’s poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem, “Now I lay thee down to Sleep" (below on the right). 
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By Emmett Lee Dickinson:
 
Now I hunker down to Wait –
I pray the Storm will Soon abate –
And if it floods before it’s through –
I’ll wish I had Skidaddled too –
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By Emily Dickinson:
 
Now I lay thee down to Sleep –
I pray the Lord thy Dust to keep –
And if thou live before thou wake –
I pray the Lord thy Soul to make –

Following three devastating hurricanes in 1853, Emmett Lee Dickinson developed Hurricane Readiness Preparation Drills (HRPDs) which were adopted by the National Center for Hurricane Readiness and Preparation (NCHRP). He also invented two apparatuses, one for preparing to "hunker down" (below left) and one to "hunker up" (below right).

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More information and pictures related to Dickinson's Hurricane Readiness Preparation Drills can be found HERE. 

Below:  Additional devices invented by Emmett Lee Dickinson for hurricane preparedness:  

Left Top:  Sock Drying Machine.  Left Bottom:  Child Drying Clips.  Right:  Surge Straps (used so that a storm surge won't carry you away).  
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Swampier Than Swampiest

9/15/2018

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From our political correspondent Dorothy "Lottie" Dawe:

Donald Trump cannot tell the truth.  Literally, the man is incapable of telling the truth. 

In May 2017, we wrote about Trump's biggest lie to date (HERE), and in June 2017, we wrote about the need for multiple Trump  "Presidential" Lie-braries (HERE). 

Recently we even rated Trump's Top Ten Lies (HERE).  However, after we made that list, we remembered other equally significant lies.

After some events from the past week, it dawned on us that even our augmented list of Top Ten lies did not include a HUGE whopper of Trump's -- the one in which  he claimed he would "drain the swamp."  Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, Trump has ascended to a malodorous throne as Swamp King.  The swamp has never been swampier.  The swamp has never been filled with such a putrid swarm of swamp critters.  The swamp has never been more foul.

Trump's swampy swampland that is swampier than the swampiest swamp of swampiness called to mind a couple of prophetic lines by Emmett Lee Dickinson, "With him who has a Callous heart / The swamp will stink in Ruin," (below on the left).  Dickinson's cotemplation inspired third cousin Emily to pen her lines that begin "To him who keeps an Orchis' heart" (below on the right).

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By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

With him who has a Callous heart –
The swamp will stink in Ruin.
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By Emily Dickinson:

To him who keeps an Orchis' heart –
The swamps are pink with June.
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Gorgeous Garbage -- Part 4

9/15/2018

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From our master grammarian and resident logophile, Angstrom Dickinson:
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The Dickinson Organization of Poetry Enthusiasts in conjunction with the Folger Coffee Company will host a birthday tribute to Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at his request) to celebrate the publication of The Garbaged Somethings, a collection of scraps of paper and bits of trash on which Dickinson wrote lines of poetry and complete poems.

In December, a similar event to be hosted by the Folger Shakespeare Library will celebrate Emily Dickinson and The Gorgeous Nothings.

Information about both events are HERE.
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Below are some of the pages from The Garbaged Somethings that will be discussed at the momentous event to be held in October:
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​Pictured at the left:  A label from a Badger Roasted Coffee can appears on page 25 of The Garbaged Somethings.  On the back of the label, Emmett Lee Dickinson wrote, "In the name of the Joe," a line he used to open this short poem:

In the name of the Joe –
And of the Jitter Juice –
And of the Brews – Amen!

Dickinson's poem inspired third cousin Emily to write this:

In the name of the Bee –
And of the Butterfly –
And of the Breeze – Amen!

Pictured at the right:  Page 48 of The Garbaged Somethings includes a coffee can lid on which Dickinson wrote his poem "A willing lid o'er weary eye":

​A willing lid o’er weary eye
As Morning on the Day dawns
Till I stumble through my House
To gain my Coffee Cup
 
Dickinson's poem inspired third cousin Emily to write this:
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As willing lid o'er weary eye
The Evening on the Day leans
Till of all our Nature's House
Remains but Balcony
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Pictured at the left:  Page 53 of The Garbaged Somethings shows a Morning Glow coffee can on which Emmett Lee Dickinson wrote, "Cream & Sugar are for amateurs."

He never used that quip in a poem.

Pictured at the right:  Plans for a coffee pot which Emmett Lee Dickinson invented and submitted for a patent in 1853 (shown on page 68 of The Garbaged Somethings). 

Dickinson invented and received patents for at least seven different types of coffee pots, and on this particular diagram Dickinson wrote, "Who needs a joe to greet the World," a line used in his poem "How good was my Warm Bed" (below on the left).   Dickinson's poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem "How good his Lava bed" (below on the right). 

For more information on Dickinson's other inventions, click HERE. 

Dickinson also coined the words "joe," "mud," "dirt," and "jitter juice" for coffee. 
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By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

How good was my Warm Bed,
To this soporific Boy –
Who needs a joe to greet the World
And start the sleepy Day –
By Emily Dickinson:

How good his Lava Bed,
To this laborious Boy –
Who must be up to call the World
And dress the sleepy Day –
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To check out other pages from The Garbaged Somethings
that will be discussed at the October 12 event,
click HERE, HERE, and HERE. 
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American Art

9/11/2018

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From our art columnist, Jarvis MacKinnon III:

Art forms most closely associated with each of the fifty states: 
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The American Federation of Federated Artists (AFFA) has published its annual list of arts most closely associated with and most prevalent in each of the fifty states.
 
On behalf of the Board members of the Dickinson Organization of Poetry Enthusiasts (DOPE), I have lodged a formal complaint with the Federation since AFFA listed “poetry” as the art form most closely associated with Massachusetts solely because the state is the home of Emily Dickinson.  AFFA listed "painting hex signs" as the art form most closely associated with Pennsylvania, the birthplace of Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request) -- and we are incensed!

We are sick and tired of Emmett Lee Dickinson being thought of as the "Salieri" to Emily Dickinson's "Mozart," when hundreds of thousands of DOPEs across the country know it should be the other way around.

Please, take time tonight, tomorrow, and the next day to call AFFA to voice your incredulity too.  Together, we will be heard.
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​Pictured at the right:  A hex sign designed by Emmett Lee Dickinson that paid homage to his most popular invention, candy corn.  This sign hung in the lobby of the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum (above the coin-op Laundromat on Dickinson Boulevard) for years -- until the building burned down on New Year's Eve in 2015.  Information is HERE. 
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Gorgeous Garbage -- Part 3

9/9/2018

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From our master grammarian and resident logophile, Angstrom Dickinson:
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On October 12, 2018, there will be a birthday tribute to Emmett Lee Dickinson -- the poet who wrote more coffee poetry than any other poet -- at the Folger Coffee Company in historic Washerst, PA (the birthplace of Emmett Lee Dickinson, Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request).  Then, on December 12, 2018, the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, will host a birthday tribute to Emily Dickinson.

The October event will focus on a new publication, The Garbaged Somethings, a collection of scraps of paper and bits of trash on which Dickinson scrawled lines of poetry and thoughts and quips about coffee.

The December event will focus on the recent publication, The Gorgeous Somethings, the full-color facsimile publication of Emily Dickinson's manuscripts.
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At the October event, Meryl Streep will take the stage with Starbucks' newly develop barista robot -- called "Servi-Tron" -- to discuss the collection of Emmett Lee Dickinson's "garbaged somethings."

More information about both the October and December events is found HERE.  Some of the pages from The Garbaged Somethings are HERE and HERE.  

Additional pages are below:
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Pictured at the right:  Page 19 of The Garbaged Somethings shows a burlap coffee bag on which Emmett Lee Dickinson scrawled the following:

For Whom the Nights become the Dawn
What must the Caffeine -- cause!

​Those lines inspired third cousin Emily to write this:

To Whom the Mornings stand for Nights,
What must the Midnights -- be!
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Pictured at the left:  On a discarded wrapper for a Coffee Crisp shown on page 32 of The Garbaged Somethings, Dickinson wrote, "Some one prepared this mighty joe With which I get my Drive to go."  He used those words to open this poem:

Some one prepared this mighty joe
With which I get my Drive to go
Through races of the Days –
To make it through my simple Door
And all I may encounter – and more
 
Dickinson's words inspired third cousin Emily to write this:

Some one prepared this mighty show
To which without a Ticket go
The nations and the Days –
Displayed before the simplest Door
That all may examine them – and more
 





Pictured at the right:  On a discard Kuerig cup (page 45 of The Garbaged Somethings), Dickinson wrote, "I love you a Latte!"  He never used that line in a poem about coffee.  

Dickinson is also credited with being the first to say, "Cool beans!"
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​Pictured at the left:  Page 76 of The Garbaged Somethings shows a discarded ice cream carton on which Emmett Lee Dickinson wrote the following poem:

Consulting the office clock
But half my break remains,
I ascertain it with a shock --
I shall not look again.
The second cup of joe
Is colder than the first.
The work I do not care to know
Will end much needed rest.
Dickinson's poem inspired third cousin Emily to write this:

Consulting summer's clock,
But half the hours remain.
I ascertain it with a shock --
I shall not look again.
The second half of joy
Is shorter than the first.
The truth I do not dare to know
I muffle with a jest.
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Shirt Tale

9/8/2018

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From our current affairs editor, Lemuel Stuart III:

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Surely by now you've heard about -- and seen -- the "plaid shirt guy," a young man seated behind Donald Trump at his rally for racists in Montana.  

The young man turned out to be Tyler Linfesty, and he told his local paper the Billings Gazette that he found out that morning he had been selected to attend the rally and meet the president.  He said he and his friends did not have an agenda and had an open mind before attending.

“I didn’t really have a plan,” Linfesty told the Gazette. “I was just going to clap for things I agreed with and not clap for things I didn’t agree with.”

Of course, his face then began to tell the story as he reacted to Trump's bombast, bluster, and bunk.

All of this called to mind a poem by Emmett Lee Dickinson which begins "The Twitch is dear to the Plaid Shirt man" (below on the left).   Dickinson's poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem "The Ditch is dear to the Drunken man" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:
 
The Twitch is dear to the Plaid Shirt man
For it can’t be Misread –
His every Thought – his Evidence!
How telling is his Head
In his disheveled Sanity –
Around him is this guy –
Oblivion bending over him
Dishonor leads the way.
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​By Emily Dickinson:
 
The Ditch is dear to the Drunken man
For is it not his Bed –
His Advocate – his Edifice?
How safe his fallen Head
In her disheveled Sanctity –
Above him is the sky –
Oblivion bending over him
And Honor leagues away.
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Poetic Justice

9/7/2018

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Submitted by an anonymous source:

I Am A Poet Inside the Trump Administration -- And Part of "Poets Against Trump"


The Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum is taking the rare step of publishing an anonymous post in our plog (poetry blog). We have done so at the request of the author, a poet working in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose reputation would be jeopardized by his or her disclosure. We believe publishing this post anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our fans.  You could submit a question about the essay or our vetting process, but it will go unanswered.  We’re just too busy preparing for the upcoming conference of the Dickinson Organization of Poetry Enthusiasts.

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​I work as a poet for the Trump administration, and I wish I could say that like-minded poets and I have vowed to thwart parts of his (very shallow) arts agenda – but there are no other poets here. There are no artists or musicians. There are no singers or dancers. There are no sculptors or painters. As a matter of fact, there are no other creative types in this very shallow and swampy administration. As a result, the United States is facing a real test to its character unlike any faced by a modern society.

Part of the dilemma — which Trump in no way grasps — is that there is no support for nor any appreciation of the arts in this barren administration. I would know. I am the only poet, the only creative being working (red stapler in hand) in a recess in the basement of the White House.

As the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the creative health of our republic, I believe my first duty is to this country. That is why I have vowed to do what I can to fight to preserve our creative institutions while reporting on Mr. Trump’s misguided impulses. I will continue to compose poems of resistance until he is out of office.

The root of the problem is the president’s total lack of imagination and spirit of creativity. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible principles that guide creative thought. The man does not read books. He has not read a poem. He does not appreciate artistic endeavors. He does not visit museums or theaters. He does not care about operas, plays, or symphonic concerts.

We may no longer have a president welcome at the Kennedy Center Honors, but we should still venerate all of the honorees -- they are the true stars if not lodestars in restoring honor to our nation. Mr. Trump may fear creative individuals, but we should celebrate them.

It is very cold comfort, though, in this chaotic era to know that there are no other poets in the room.

Does the country fully recognize what is happening?

​Perhaps this November voters will do what’s right since Donald Trump can't.


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