Category: Barack Obama

Truth Decay

2/16/2020

From Dorothy Dawe:

For President's Day 2020, the strange and wonderful road-side attraction of decaying Presidents’ Heads in a field near Williamsburg, Virginia, is the perfect metaphor of the American presidency since 2016.

In the early 2000s, the heads stood in a park in Williamsburg. However, there wasn’t enough public interest so the park closed down. A contractor was hired to remove and destroy the heads – but he didn’t have the heart to demolish them – so he crowded them into a field behind his house.

Picture below: Presidents Park in Williamsburg, VA -- before Donald Trump.

In recent years the heads have begun to decline and deteriorate – symbolic of Donald Trump’s destruction of the office of the presidency and our democracy.

Pictured below: The presidents' heads now sit in a field near Williamsburg, Virginia.

Pictured below: Sunset on the American presidency -- symbolic of the decline of the office since the inauguration of Donald Trump:

The decline of the office of the presidency calls to mind Emmett Lee Dickinson's poem from 1882 poem, "Had this Decay not been" (below on the left). Dickinson's poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem "Had this one Day not been" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

Had this Decay not been.
Or could it cease to be
How awesome, how super for us,
To save Democracy!

But Truth we value less
And Lies we value more
Add in our ivory privilege,
Crave eighteen-sixty-four.

By Emily Dickinson:

Had this one Day not been.
Or could it cease to be
How smitten, how superfluous,
Were every other Day!

Lest Love should value less
What Loss would value more
Had it the stricken privilege,
It cherishes before.

Pictured at the right: A model for a giant head of Barrack Obama: Before the park closed, the artist made a prototype of Obama. When the park closed for good, the twent-foot Obama head was never sculpted.

Pictured below: Before heading to Williamsburg to view the presidents' heads, we stopped at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond to see Kehinde Wiley's latest work, "Rumors of War."

0 Comments

The F-Word, Part 4

12/28/2018

0 Comments

From Jim Asher, the world's leading authority on Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request):

This is the fourth and final post on the December 10 Birthday Tribute to Emily Dickson at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC.

Part 1 -- about Jan Bervin's presentation based on Jay Layde's work -- is HERE.

Part 2 -- about Martha Nell Smith's presentation about correspondence between Emily Dickinson and her sister-in-law -- is HERE.

Part 3 -- about Martha Nell Smith's use of the F-word (no no, no -- not THAT F-word) -- is HERE.

Part 4 -- In this part I will share thoughts and pictures about my day in Washington DC on the following day, Tuesday, December 11.

THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION

I have visited Washington, DC, many times in the past, but I'd never been to the Phillips Collection, so I started my day there. The museum -- which touts itself as the first museum of modern art -- includes two paintings by Edward Hopper.

Edward Hopper was greatly influenced by the life and poetry of Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request). Info about the Hopper-Dickinson connection can be found on this site HERE and on various plog (poetry blog) posts, HERE (scroll through the various posts).

The Phillips Collection also had a few paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe -- another artist heavily influenced by Emmett Lee Dickinson.

For information, check the posts HERE, and scroll through other posts HERE.

Pictured at the right: The Phillips Collection includes a painting by Paul Cezanne of a seated woman in blue holding the first volume of poems by Emmett Lee Dickinson (as shown below).

Below: Other shots from the Phillips Collection:

Click to enlarge the image at the left to read about Jacob Lawrence's migration series; some of the paintings in the series are shown below:

THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Next I visited the National Portrait Gallery (which is in the same building as the Smithsonian American Art Museum). My main reason for going to the NPG was to see the official portraits of the Obamas -- both of whom are great fans of Emmett Lee Dickinson.

Several years ago I sent the Obamas copies of my books Great American Poems REPOEMED.

I later received the nice postcard shown at the right (click the image to enlarge).

Pictured at the left: The museum had a special exhibit highlighting its daguerreotype collection. Two of the portraits were related to Emmett Lee Dickinson: one was of his sister Pythagoria; another was of his close friend Henry David Thoreau.

Pictured at the right: The museum includes a drawing called "The Death Bed of the Martyr President Abraham Lincoln," and it includes a likeness of Emmett Lee Dickinson (shown near the back left).

Dickinson and Lincoln were best friends (information is HERE), and Dickinson was devastated when Lincoln was assassinated.

More on the connection between Dickinson and Lincoln is included in the posts HERE.

Other connections to Emmett Lee Dickinson: Below left: A work by Andy Warhol -- who was greatly influenced by Dickinson (information HERE). Below right: The world of art's fascination with cows and cattle (information HERE).

Below left: Artworks that take a new look at American history. Below right: Folk art by Bill Traylor.

Below: Shots from around the museum.

Below: An upper floor in the museum includes a number of paintings of Emmett Lee Dickinson's family members:

Pictured at the right: One last connection to Emmett Lee Dickinson: an artwork depicting a hotdog. Hotdogs were invented by none other than Emmett Lee Dickinson.

Many people asked Dickinson for the ingredients in a hotdog, but he never told anyone.

"What is a hotdog made of?" he would say. "All I can tell you is that a ballpark frank is pure poetry."

0 Comments

Good to the Last Drop

12/18/2016

0 Comments

Channeling Run-D.M.C.'s "Christmas in Hollis," Chance the Rapper and the SNL crew paid tribute to President Obama last night with "Jingle Barack."

From GQ: "Thompson, Chance, and a break-dancing Jesus pitch Christmas as a chance to revel in all of the good things in danger of disappearing under the Trump administration, like same-sex marriage, the Affordable Care Act, and the North Pole. D.M.C. himself even stopped by to deliver a delightful 'Make America Great Again' hat punchline."

The video ends with shots of Obama dropping the mic at his final White House Correspondents' Dinner earlier this year.

The origins of the phrase "drop the mic" dates back to the late 1800s. It comes from the poem "A Mic dropped carefully on a Stage" (below on the left) by Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request). His poem inspired third-cousin Emily to pen her poem "A Word dropped careless on a Page" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

A Mic dropped carefully on a Stage
May stimulate a cheer
When done with flourish it can make
The rankled Target sneer

Inflection in the sentence breeds
A gasp with laughs to spare
With triumph once the gesture's made
From the Hysteria

By Emily Dickinson:

A Word dropped careless on a Page
May stimulate an eye
When folded in perpetual seam
The Wrinkled Maker lie

Infection in the sentence breeds
We may inhale Despair
At distances of Centuries
From the Malaria

0 Comments

The Nerd Prom

5/1/2016

0 Comments

Above: President Lincoln address White House correspondents at the first White House Correspondents' Dinner (above Lincoln's head hangs a likeness of Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request).

Did you catch President Obama last night at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (often referred to as the “Nerd Prom”)? He proved yet again, that once he’s out of office, he could pursue a career in stand-up comedy. As a matter of fact, he even out-funnied Larry Wilmore, the comedian who was paid to be there (at least, I assume he was paid).

In part of his monologue, Obama noted that the GOP continues to block his any and every move:

“Of course, in fact, for months now congressional Republicans have been saying there are things I cannot do in my final year. Unfortunately, this dinner was not one of them. But on everything else, it’s another story. And you know who you are, Republicans. In fact, I think we’ve got Republican Senators Tim Scott and Cory Gardner, they’re in the house, which reminds me, security, bar the doors! Judge Merrick Garland, come on out, we’re going to do this right here, right now.”

Then in a well-received allusion to the smash hit Game of Thrones, Obama noted that it was going to be “like ‘The Red Wedding.’ ”

His tongue-in-cheek lamentation about the GOP opposition, though, reminded us of a poem by Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request), “The last Year that He served.”

In the 1860s, Dickinson was the first to suggest the idea of a White House Correspondents’ Dinner. His good friend President Abraham Lincoln liked the idea, but like Obama, Lincoln encountered disapproval and resistance from Congress in almost everything he put forth. The obstructions presented by Congress incensed Dickinson, and he wrote his now-classic poem (below on the left). Dickinson’s poem also inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem, “The last Night that She lived” (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

The last Year that He served
It was a Common Year
Except the Whining – this to us
Made Congress different

They gridlocked smallest things--
Things overlooked E'en more
With some great fear upon their minds
Italicized – as 'twere

As they went out and in
Between Their hallowed Halls
And Rooms where'd They'd retreat
To escape from the Blame

That Nothing could expand
While He must finish quite
A Jealousy for Him arose
So nearly infinite –

By Emily Dickinson:

The last Night that She lived
It was a Common Night
Except the Dying – this to Us
Made Nature different

We noticed smallest things –
Things overlooked before
By this great light upon our Minds
Italicized – as 'twere.

As We went out and in
Between Her final Room
And Rooms where Those to be alive
Tomorrow were, a Blame

That Others could exist
While She must finish quite
A Jealousy for Her arose
So nearly infinite –

0 Comments

Truth Decay

The F-Word, Part 4

Good to the Last Drop

The Nerd Prom

Archives

PLOG

Categories