Category: Emmett Lee Dickinson

Birthday Boy

10/12/2024

For almost two years now I’ve published #DickinsonDaily posts on CounterSocial (I deleted our ELD Twitter account when Melon Husk took over), so today I reminded those on that social platform that I am also the world’s leading authority on Emmett Lee Dickinson, Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed (at her request).

Why today?

Because today, October 12, 2024, just happens to be be Emmett Lee Dickinson’s 221st birthday. He was born on October 12, 1803 -- and just FYI: There are no records about his death – so who knows.

Info on the man and his family can be found HERE and info on the Dickinson Organization of Poetry Enthusiasts (DOPE) is HERE.

Please join me in wishing Emmett Lee the happiest of Happy Birthdays!

Celebrate today -- but celebrate responsibly (if not poetically)!

Ten = Eleven

6/1/2024

On and off since May 15th, the 138th anniversary of Dickinson’s death, I’ve been posting my Top Ten favorites of Dickinson’s poems of death and grief – and today I reach the tenth and final entry.

I haven’t ranked the ten poems in any way, except that I'd have to say that these are really my top two. Oh – I forgot to mention that my “Top Ten” has turned out to be eleven poems in all, because today’s entry is a pair of favorites.

Back in the eighth grade, in English class, my teacher was presenting a unit on poetry, and at the start I remember we studied the lyrics of the Beatles’ songs as poetry. I thought that it was so cool.

The Beatles were still a group then, and they had released “Abbey Road” that year. Info about the album is HERE.

Then at some point, after studying various of the Beatles’ lyrics, my teacher read these lines of Dickinson to the class:

ecause I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.

I remember feeling at the time that the top of my head was taken off – and my body was so cold no fire could warm me.

LOL – I’m paraphrasing Dickinson’s own definition of poetry she gave to Thomas Wentworth Higginson: “If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only way I know it. Is there any other way?”

The next poem my teacher shared was “After great pain – a formal feeling comes.” “The hour of Lead” and those final three lines hooked me:

Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow –
First – Chill – then Stupor – then the letting go –

More on these two poems tomorrow.

TEN = ELEVEN, PART 2:

Yesterday I finished my series of recent posts of my Top Ten favorites of Dickinson’s poems of death and grief, and my tenth and final entry was a “twofer” – two poems for the price of one: “Because I could not stop for Death” and “After great pain – a formal feeling comes.”

Not only did those two poems hook me on Dickinson, but they are also the very poems that turned my interest to the study and examination of the poetry of Emmett Lee Dickinson, Emily’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request.

I was hooked on his poetry when I read his now-classic poems, “Because I could not stop for Debt” and “After formal feedings – a great pain comes.”

I became such a fan, I established the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum (above the coin-op laundromat in Washerst {pronouced WAS-erst}, Pennsylvania), and I created the museum’s website (the very site you are on now).

Alas, the actual museum burned to the ground at the end of 2015, and our fund-raising to rebuild is moving slowly, so all that is left at this point is the website. Info is HERE.

Okay, so now I’m going to let you in on a secret, a secret that is classified at the highest level of classification of secrets – it is not just “top secret,” but “tip-top top secret” – and you must SWEAR that you will not divulge this tip-top secret to anyone. ANYONE!!! If you agree to keep this tip-top secret a secret, then read on. If, though, you have trouble keeping secrets, and you agree to keep this secret a secret but you DON’T – then I will hunt you down and subject you to an unrelenting span and extraordinarily wide spectrum of annoying behaviors of an angry and disrespectful teenager.

Sooo…if you do NOT accept the vow of complete tip-top-secrecy, then stop reading here. Thx, bye.

If you DO accept the vow of complete tip-top-secrecy, then here is the tip-top-secret:

There is no such person as “Emmett Lee Dickinson, Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request.” I made him up! He is a character for the ages, a persona through which I can have fun with my love for Dickinson.

Now PLEASE don’t let me hear that you let this secret out! I’ll be quite upset!

"Don't" Ask. Do Tell!

5/26/2024

STOP THE PRESSES!

Before I move on to anything new, I need to correct some recent misinformation I posted.

I’ve been making posts about Dickinson’s use of “don’t” and “doesn’t” in her poems – particularly the purposeful irregular uses of “don’t” – and I ran searches on the online Dickinson archive for “don’t” and “doesn’t,” and the info stated that Dickinson had used “don’t” in eight poems and “doesn’t” in three.

Then I remembered Dickinson’s poem “It don't sound so terrible – quite – as it did” – and I was going to post it alongside another work, “It don’t” sounds so terrible – quite – as “it doesn’t,” a poem by Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request) which pokes fun at her misuse of “don’t” – but I realized that Emily’s poem never showed up on either of those searches I had run

Sooo…I did some further research and realized that the Dickinson archive includes entries for her use of “dont” (with no apostrophe) and “does’nt” (with the misplaced apostrophe).

Therefore, the correct number of poems which include the contraction “don’t” & “dont” is 23 (and not 8); and the correct number of poems which include “doesn’t” and “does’nt” is 12 (and not 3).

I haven’t had time to peruse all of these poems, but suffice it to say that in some, she used the contractions correctly, and in others, she did not – and in each case, her choice was purposeful.

When it comes to exploring the works of Dickinson, I’ve learned that “this work is not conclusion” – and that brings me back to the poem I was going to my original plan for today, Dickinson’s poem, “This world is not conclusion,” another of my favorite poems about death and grief. I love the image of the first four lines: This World is not Conclusion / A Species stands beyond / Invisible, as Music / But positive, as Sound.

As far as her irregular use of “don’t” in line 6, I wrote about that yesterday HERE.

Now, before I move to the next poem in my inventory of poems about death and grief, let me share two articles about the use of “don’t” – “the usual contraction of “does not” for more than two centuries.”

The first, “When Dickens don’t use ‘doesn’t,’” is HERE. The second, “Was ‘it don’t’ once good English?” is HERE.

Tomorrow: “A Coffin – is a small domain.”

"Don't" miss it!

Because I Could Not Stop -- Part 1

3/13/2024

Someone asked recently how I got so involved/intrigued with the poetry of Emily Dickinson. My interest dates back to the 8th grade when we were studying poetry, and we began with a look at the lyrics of Beatles’ songs. LOL – the Beatles were still a group at that point – and I thought it was so cool we were analyzing their lyrics.

Then one morning, the teacher recited “Because I could not stop for Death,” and I think my head exploded (Interestingly, I later found out that Dickinson once wrote, “If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry” – so obviously, I knew I was hearing great poetry).

We also looked at some poems by E. E. Cummings, and I was fascinated with how the words and phrases were sliced, twisted and turned to make new meanings. I loved word puzzles, and my favorite books at the time were from the “Encyclopedia Brown” series – so I loved figuring out crimes, mysteries, riddles – and poems.

I remember the next Dickinson poem we studied was “After great pain, a formal feeling comes” – and the concept of time slowing down and the image of “This is the hour of lead” just blew me away!

Later, as an adult, I started writing parodies of Dickinson’s poems – my first was “After formal feedings, a great pain comes" (pictured at the right), and I invented the persona of Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request) and I started this site back in 2012.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

When/how did you first encounter Dickinson?

Newly Discovered Works

9/1/2020

I was cleaning out some files in my iPhone's Notes app last night I found some "newly discovered works" by Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request). I had no notes with them -- just the poems -- so I'm not sure how/when I had planned to use them. Sooo...for now, I just thought I'd share the works below.

For each poem, I've provided a few comments. Under that, I've posted the poem by Emmett Lee Dickinson on the left, and then the poem Dickinson's work inspired third cousin Emily to write on the right.

1. "If I could tell how old it is": In this poem, Emmett Lee Dickinson seems to be talking about some sort of antique? My iPhone indicated that I added this poem to my Notes app in late June 2019, so was something going on then about some sort of aged artifact or relic? I dunno. So with out further ado....

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

If I could tell how old it is
I should now be so glad –
But when I can’t make out its Age,
Nor figure out its Brand,
I know it is a sign,
That olden Days did see
Now generations further off
From its Modernity.

By Emily Dickinson:

If I could tell how glad I was
I should not be so glad –
But when I cannot make the Force,
Nor mould it into Word,
I know it is a sign
That new Dilemna be
From mathematics further off
Than for Eternity.

2. "I read his sentence -- steadily": Hmm. I don't remember why I was working on this poem -- but I'm sure it was related to some statement made by the Criminal-in-Chief since he was voted in by the Klan (as noted in the 8th line of the poem). I'm not sure there was more research/work to be done on this poem, but here it is as I found it in my Notes app:

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

I read his sentence – steadily –
Reviewed it with my eyes,
To see that I made no mistake
In his extremist lies –
The Date, and manner, of his shame –
And in his Biased Form
That “God have mercy” on our Souls
The Klan had voted him –
I made my soul familiar – with his extremities--
That at the last, it should not be a
novel Agony –
But he, and Death, acquainted –
Meet dismally, as friends –
Salute, and pass, without a Hint –
And there, the Matter ends –

By Emily Dickinson:

I read my sentence – steadily –
Reviewed it with my eyes,
To see that I made no mistake
In its extremest clause –
The Date, and manner, of the shame –
And then the Pious Form
That "God have mercy" on the Soul
The Jury voted Him –
I made my soul familiar – with her extremity –
That at the last, it should not be a
novel Agony –
But she, and Death, acquainted –
Meet tranquilly, as friends –
Salute, and pass, without a Hint –
And there, the Matter ends –

3. "Of Squad we ask one favor": This poem, I'm sure, was going to be connected to some information about the Blue Wave of 2018 when "the Squad" was voted into Congress. I believe I was hopeful that more of the Criminal-in-Chief's crimes would come to light, and that he would be convicted and removed from office. Alas, it was not to be since the spineless GOP continues to condone his criminal actions.

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

Of Squad we ask one favor
That he’ll be overridden –
For what he is presumed to be –
His Crimes, from us, are hidden
Committed his whole Life
Convict and send to Prison
We’ll sing and dance with Happiness
That too competes with Heaven.

By Emily Dickinson:

Of God we ask one favor,
That we may be forgiven –
For what, he is presumed to know –
The Crime, from us, is hidden –
Immured the whole of Life
Within a magic Prison
We reprimand the Happiness
That too competes with Heaven.

4. "Show me their Unity, and I will show you Lunacy": Obviously, I was going to post this poem with some post about the poorly educated and feeble-minded cult followers who idolize the Grifter-in-Chief. They have fallen hard for his con.

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

Show me their Unity, and I will show
you Lunacy –
Both in one package lain
And lifted back again –
Be Sure – while I am Emmett Lee
Be known -- what he has ever said – Insanity

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.

Poemdemic 2020

5/29/2020

From Emerson Nettles, the Executive Director for Development and Expansion:

LINK FOR SUNDAY, 6/21, 3:00 PM EASTERN: HERE

Mark your calendars now for THE online poetry event of the 2020 Pandemic:
THE POETRY OF EMMETT LEE DICKINSON:

* Tuesday, June 16

* 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time

* Live! (It will be like a live podcast -- but with slides so that you can see the poetry to follow along (so best viewed from your laptop or iPad)

* Includes poetry of Emily AND Emmett Lee Dickinson

* Approximately 30 minutes

* Sponsored by Charm City Books (HERE)

* Encore presentation: Sunday, 6/21, 3 p.m. Eastern Time

If you're a Dickinson lover -- either Emily or Emmett Lee or both -- you won't want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime event (well, twice if you join us on both dates)! The links are below -- and if you join us, all you have to do is lounge about in the luxury of your own home and listen...and learn (about Emmett Lee)...and laugh...and libate (if you so desire).

Link for Tuesday, June 16: HERE

Link for Sunday, June 21: HERE

MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW!

Tuesday, July 14, 7:30 pm Eastern
Sunday, July 19, 3:00 pm Eastern
For links to access the programs, click HERE.

Lit Up!

4/18/2020

From Emerson Nettles:

UNESCO's City of Literature program is part of the wider Creative Cities Network, and we are pleased as punch to report that Washerst, Pennsylvania, the birthplace of America’s greatest poet, Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request) has been selected as a City of Literature. Criteria for the program are listed HERE.

Like Amherst is pronounced “AM-erst,” Washerst is pronounced without the “h,” WAS-erst, and if you’ve ever visited, then you, too, can say “I WAS in WASherst” – and if ever there was a City of Literature, then it is Washerst.

1. First and foremost, Washerst is the birthplace of Emmett Lee Dickinson, America’s greatest poet.

2. Washerst is the home of the world’s Poetry Hall of Fame. You can visit the Hall of Fame HERE.

Below left: The only extant likeness of America's greatest poet, Emmett Lee Dickinson. Below right: The Poetry Hall of Fame.

3. Washerst was also the home of what is referred to as Albert “Al” Gonquin’s Buffet Booth – a group of Washerst writers, poets, ventriloquists, jesters, mimics and mimes, who would crowd into a booth for lunch each day in the Walnut Room of the Wastoria Motel. Members of the Buffet Booth and "The Counter Culture,” as they dubbed themselves (since many of the booth’s overflow would eat at the diner’s counter) engaged in banter, chit chat, prattle, palaver, and gossip – much of which would make it into daily tabloid papers across the country.

4. Many literary grave sites are located in the Washerst Cemetery of the Lettered and Literate, including Libby “Mad Libs” Wâllopkałuża, the creator of “Mad Libs” books; Edison Everett Spine, the originator of book spine poetry; and Anne Thology, a key figure in the “publish or perish” wars in the world of academia (information about Anne Thology and the cut-throat "publish or perish" world of academia is HERE).

Below left: The Wastoria Motel, site of Al Gonquin’s Buffet Booth, a group of Washerst writers, poets, ventriloquists, jesters, mimics and mimes, who would crowd into a booth for lunch each day in the motel's Walnut Room Diner. Below right: The Washerst Cemetery of the Lettered and Literate.

5. Countless books have been set in Washerst, including Charles Duckins’ A Tale of One City, S. Fitzgerald Scott’s The Good Goolsby, Leo Toystol’s Corn and Peas, and Hardy Thomas’ Tess of d'Uber Drivers.

6. There are countless cafés and pubs in Washerst for want-to-be writers. For example, the city has the highest concentration of Subways to wordsmiths than any other city in the United States.

7. One of the top publishing houses in the country, Ballard Ear Publishing, is located in the heart of historic Washerst on Dickinson Boulevard. Ballad Ear focuses on works that were in some way influenced by the life and work of Emmett Lee Dickinson. Many examples are HERE.

8. The world’s largest Festival of the Dollar-Bin Used Paperback Books and Carnival of Classics occurs each July on the weekend before the city’s annual Moss & Hornwort Jubilee (which holds the honor as the Guiness Book of World's Records' longest running annual civic event, held every year in Washerst since 1802).

9. Washerst is synonymous with “literature.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald said of Washerst, “The city seen from the shore of Dickinson Lake is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.”
Tom Wolfe said, “One belongs to Washerst instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “You can get a suit sponged and pressed in Washerst as quickly as you can get a calzone stuffed with double ricotta, Pecorino Romano, ham and pork rinds.”

10. The core identity of Washerst is that of a City of Literature -- and that is embodied by the Emmett Lee Dickinson Applied Research & Education Center, located on Washerst's Municipal Pier on beautiful Dickinson Lake. The ELDAREC is the premier research center in the world dedicated to the life and work of Emmett Lee Dickinson.

Below: The Emmett Lee Dickinson Applied Research & Education Center, the world's largest cultural and academic center dedicated to the life and work of Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request).

Product Recall

4/13/2020

From Emerson Nettles:

Did you know that Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request) conceived of the idea of "product placement"?

Not only did he invent product placement, but shortly after he wrote his poem "The Products of my Firm are these" (below on the left), he also established the Institute for Product Placement in historic Washerst, PA. His poem also inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem "The Products of my Farm are these" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

The Products of my Firm are these
Sufficient for to Own
And here and there a Benefit
Are Placements clearly shown.

For Us, 'tis Wilson cast away
With Ray Bans in the Sun
We crave a slice of Domino’s
Once seen can’t be undone.

By Emily Dickinson:

The Products of my Farm are these
Sufficient for my Own
And here and there a Benefit
Unto a Neighbor's Bin.

With Us, 'tis Harvest all the Year
For when the Frosts begin
We just reverse the Zodiac
And fetch the Acres in.

His poem also inspired modern-day movie directors to utilize product placement in some of their biggest hits: a Wilson volleyball was featured in the movie "Cast Away," Ray Ban sunglasses were featured in "Top Gun," and Domino's pizza was featured in the mega-hit "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."

Below: The Institute for Product Placement in historic Washerst, PA -- established by Emmett Lee Dickinson in 1872.

Social Outcast

3/22/2020

From Jarvis MacKinnon III:

Historians state that Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request) conceived of the idea of social distancing during an outbreak of yellow fever in 1878. Others disagree. They claim that Emily Dickinson, the queen of social distancing, originated the idea much earlier when she took out a restraining order against her third cousin (one thing that all historians do agree on is that the relationship between Emily Dickinson and Emmett Lee Dickinson was quite volatile).

Below: A sliver of a painting of Emily Dickinson by Alaskan Raven Studio. You can see and read about the entire painting (and even purchase a print), HERE.

Of course, it may very well be true that Emily Dickinson invented social distancing because shortly after she obtained a restraining order in 1853, Emmett Lee Dickinson wrote his poem "That Distance that's between Us" (below on the left). His poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem, "That Distance was between Us" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

That Distance that’s between Us
That should be Six Feet or Ten –
The Space it is that situates –
Well-being – always then –

By Emily Dickinson:

That Distance was between Us
That is not of Mile or Main –
The Will it is that situates –
Equator – never can –

Plogging Away

3/15/2020

From Philo Remington:

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! This -- yes THIS -- is our 700th plog (poetry blog) post!

Way back in May 2013 we started plogging. HERE is our first post:

Of course, our first post was just to say that plog posts would be coming soon -- so our actual first post about a topic other than the fact that plog posts were coming soon was this one (HERE), about the invention of the TV test pattern (and more):

Now six years later we have reached our 700th post -- and what is about?

A return to TV test patterns? The current global pandemic? The failed presidency of Donald Trump? Important issues facing society today -- like product placement in the movie industry -- or the need for more cat videos on the internet? The latest in men's fashions (spoiler alert: leg warmers for men)?

No. It's about the man himself, Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request).

At a young age, Dickinson started writing daily entries and poetry in journals. He'd stitch the papers together in bound sets that he would call "journicles."

When Dickinson recorded his 700th journal entry, he wrote his poem, "After 700 hundred posts" (below on the left). His poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem, "After a hundred years" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

After 700 hundred posts
Everyone knows the Score
Comedy that’s enacted here
Hopefulness for More

Words triumphant range
Strangers troll or praise
At the vast Anthology
Of posts sure to Amaze

Words of Some import
Recollect the way –
Life and times of Emmett Lee
Penned for you each day –

By Emily Dickinson:

After a hundred years
Nobody knows the Place
Agony that enacted there
Motionless as Peace

Weeds triumphant ranged
Strangers strolled and spelled
At the lone Orthography
Of the Elder Dead

Winds of Summer Fields
Recollect the way –
Instinct picking up the Key
Dropped by memory –

Pictured below: Emmett Lee Dickinson's 700th post in one of his "journicles."