Blog Archives

Memory Games

7/27/2020

Emmett Lee Dickinson's 1853 poem "Show me a Elephant, and I will show you Memory" (below on the left) eerily parallels Donald Trump's recent claim of having "aced" a cognitive assessment test where he could identify a picture of an elephant and he could repeat back a series of five words, "woman, man, person, camera, TV."

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

Show me an Elephant, and I will show
you Memory
Quote me a five word chain
I’ll list it back again –

Be Sure, in my dull Family –
Be best, what I have ever been,
a Mastermind –

By Emily Dickinson:

Show me Eternity, and I will show
you Memory
Both in one package lain
And lifted back again –

Be Sue, while I am Emily –
Be next, what you have ever been,
Infinity –

Below left: The New Yorker published a portion of the actual test Trump took. Information is HERE. Below center and right: Other exclusive photographs from Trump's test. Click the images to enlarge.

By the way, rumor has it that Melania Trump lifted "Be Best" from the last line of Dickinson's poem to give her hollow, meaningless & laughable campaign a name. Dickinson's poem also inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem, "Show me Eternity, and I will show you Memory" (above on the right).

Let's face it folks, our so-called president is a freakin' moron. November can't get here soon enough.

Sign of the Times

7/27/2020

The world-famous "WASHERST" sign sits high above Dickinson Lake in historic Washerst, Pennsylvania, the birthplace of America's greatest poet, Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request). The sign was, of course, the inspiration for the "HOLLYWOOD" sign.

Metaphors Be With You -- Part 1

7/27/2020

met·a·phor
/ˈmedəˌfôr,ˈmedəˌfər/

noun: a thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else

I'm curious -- which visual metaphor below do you think best represents the disastrous Trump administration?

1. The shabby Trump wall blowing over in a storm.
2. A dejected Trump with a triumphant Putin.
3. Trump throwing paper towels to hurricane victims in desperate need of real help.
4. Children in cages.
5. A darkened White House while Trump hid in a bunker in the basement.

Field of Study

7/18/2020

By Emily Dickinson:

The Bird did prance – the Bee did play –
The Sun ran miles away
So blind with joy he could not choose
Between his Holiday

The morn was up – the meadows out
The Fences all but ran,
Republic of Delight, I thought
Where each is Citizen –

From Heavy laden Lands to thee
Were seas to cross to come
A Caspian were crowded –
Too near thou art for Fame –

Yikes! It was in the high 90s today, so we visited Shenandoah National Park for part of the afternoon where it was a good 10-degrees cooler on Skyline Drive.

Pics below are from a meadow on Bear Den Mountain -- and yes, the birds did prance and the bees did play.

Below left: Entrance to the meadow on Bear Den Mountain -- through a "kissing gate."

Bean There, Dumb That

7/16/2020

We were stunned and appalled recently when Ivanka Trump and then Donald Trump posted pictures of themselves hawking Goya beans. We did find some reactions on Twitter to be humorous -- so we had to laugh. Still, the lack of ethics on the part of these grifters is beyond astounding.

The entire affair called to mind Emmett Lee Dickinson's poem, "How good her Love of Beans" (below on the left). His poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem "How good his Lava Bed" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

How good her Love of Beans,
To this inglorious Girl –
Who must be down to tell this World
She’s just the grifter’s Shill –

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 –

Below: Some of our favorite reactions to Ivanka's and Trump's posts. Which is your favorite?

Words of Art

7/16/2020

A word is dead when it is said
Some say –
I say it just begins to live
That day.

~ Emily Dickinson

Pictures: Confederate monuments and plinths in Richmond, VA

Below: The plinth of Stonewall Jackson

Below: The plinth of Jefferson Davis

Below: The plinth of JEB Stuart

Below: The plinth of a generic Confederate soldier

Below left and right: The Lee plinth and monument (the Lee memorial is to be removed soon).

Below: The plinth of Commodore Matthew Fontaine Maury

Below: The AP Hill monument (not on Monument Avenue)

A Few of my Favorite Things

7/12/2020

We've seen various "30 Day Challenges" making their way across the Internets. We've even participated in two of them -- the Met Museum's 30 Day Art Challenge and the Interlochen Center for the Arts' 30 Day Classical Music Challenge.

Well, we've decided to put together our our 30 day challenge of "Favorite Things" -- and of course, we've (very appropriately) started the challenge with "Favorite poem or poet."

We'll be posting our Favorite Things on Twitter at @The_Dickinson.

If you'd like to play along, our challenge is posted at the right. Click the image to enlarge.

Below on the right and left: A 30 day art challenget sponsored by the the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a 30 day classical music challenge sponsored by the Interlochen Center of the Arts.

UPDATE:

Since I posted this in July, I've also posted my "Thirty Days of Gripes." That thirty day challenge is show at the right if you want to try it.

One of these days I'll post all of my responses to the various challenges -- I'll scroll through Twitter if I can't remember all of my answers. : )

Age of Treason

7/3/2020

Why hasn't Donald Trump been arrested for treason yet?

Turns out that his buddy Vlad is paying a $100,000.00 bounty for each murdered US soldier in Afghanistan -- AND TRUMP HAS KNOWN ABOUT THIS FOR MONTHS. The information was included in his Personal Daily Brief LAST FEBRUARY 27. He was warned in writing and verbally (I call BULLSHIT on anyone who claims that there was NO DISCUSSION about this at the White House). US intelligence even warned our allies about Putin's bounties.

What have the Keystone GOPs done about this? They bumbled around in a sweat to come up with the easiest to swallow tale they could force-feed to the public: "He doesn't read -- and nobody told him." Again, I call BULLSHIT.

In an absurd twist, Kayleigh McEnany, our so-called president's press propagandist, later stated that Trump was the "most informed person on the planet earth" when it comes to the safety of our soldiers. Evidently not, Kayleigh. Evidently not.

I often wonder when will we hit bottom in the dysTrumpian hell hole we have fallen into. I hope and pray this is it. It is hard to imagine anything much lower.

Trump's most recent act of treason called to mind Emmett Lee Dickinson's poem "They pay -- with Putin's cash" (below on the left). Dickinson's poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem "I pay -- in Satin Cash," (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

They pay – with Putin’s Cash –
They did now state – the price –
A Bounty, for Americans
Uncovered by the press –

By Emily Dickinson:

I pay – in Satin Cash –
You did not state – your price –
A Petal, for a Paragraph
It near as I can guess –

July the Fourth Be With You

7/2/2020

WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT:

ARE YOU TIRED OF WINNING?

"I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY"

~ DONALD TRUMP