In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday 2022, we offer this haiku:
In the late 1800s, Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request) established the haiku as the official poem of Thanksgiving. For information, click HERE -- and once you land on that page, there are a number of other links to click which will take you to other posts about Dickinson and his Thanksgiving haikus.
In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday 2022, we offer this haiku:
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In the late 1800s, Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request) established the haiku as the official poem of Thanksgiving. I have posted quite a number of Dickinson's holiday haikus in the past. You can read some HERE, HERE. HERE , and HERE. There are even some on this page, HERE (scroll down to the entry dated 11/28). Below: Additional Thanksgiving haikus written by Emmett Lee Dickinson -- shown in the pic in his own handwriting. The text for each is shown below the picture.
Speaking of Black Plague Friday, click HERE to see all the dates and details for the 2020 Shopping Season (formerly known as the Holiday Season). From our 19th century historian, Eudora Dickinson: If Charles Dickens is “the man who invented Christmas,” then Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request) is “the man who invented Thanksgiving” – and we have MANY, MANY posts about Dickinson and his connection and Turkey Day. To read all about it in our plog (poetry blog), just click HERE and scroll down. At the bottom of each page, click “previous” to take you to even more posts about the poet and the holiday. Dickinson, the inventor of the haiku (information HERE), established the haiku as the official poetry form for Thanksgiving, and many of his holiday haikus are included in the plog posts linked above. Three more are below. In addition to the Thanksgiving poems and holiday trivia/facts presented in our plog (poetry blog) linked above, did you know that Emmett Lee Dickinson invented... * Tofurkey * Turduckin * Drinksgiving * The term "jive turkey" * Black Friday (plus, he changed the name of "the holiday season" to "the shopping season") * Turkey jerky * Green bean casserole * Leftovers * The marching band (noted at the bottom of this page, HERE) and holiday parades * Cranberry sauce (although Dickinson's original sauce contained a significant amount of alcohol -- hence, the origin of the word "sauced" to mean "drunk") From our current affairs editor, Lemuel Stuart III: Stuff those turkeys in the oven early this Thursday, people, so that you and the fam can rush out to the malls and mega-box stores for some pre-Black-Friday sales on Thanksgetting (formerly known as Thanksgiving). Target opens at 5:00 p.m., but Super Walmart Centers will be open 24 hours -- so maybe forget the turkey dinner and pack some turkey sandwiches in a cooler! Better yet -- hit the K-Mart early and get the kids turkey pizza at the Little Caesars' counter -- they're having a holiday sale with free garlic knots with the purchase of two pizzas -- just say "Pizza Pizza." Below on the left: Emmett Lee Dickinson's now-classic poem about Black Friday,"Buyers, in the early morning." Dickinson's poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem "Angels, in the early morning" (below on the right).
From our food editor, Verla Burrell-Bordelon:
NOTE: Dickinson wrote an earlier version of this poem about Super Bowl buffets. You can find is HERE. Which version do you prefer? From our entertainment editor, Qwerty Lee Dickinson: Get your wallets and credit cards out, it's time to start spending in the 2018 holiday Shopping Season! Here are the dates to remember: 11/21: Gray Wednesday, Black Friday sales begin. 11/22: THANKSGETTING! Eat – and then shop till you drop! Door Buster sales start at different times throughout the evening. Check newspaper inserts for details. 11/23: Black Friday 11/24: Small Business Saturday 11/25: Mega-Mart Sunday 11/26: Cyber-Monday 11/27: Max-Out-Your-Cards Tuesday 11/28: 2nd Mortgage Wednesday 11/29: Chapter 11 Thursday 11/30: Black & Blue Friday 12/01: NSF Saturday 12/02: Destitute Sunday 12/03: Law-Away Monday 12/04: Lay-Awake Tuesday (To Worry All Night How You’re Going To Pay For All Of This Crap) 12/05: Keep Spending Wednesday 12/06: Squanderer Thursday 12/07: Reckless Spending Friday 12/08: Compulsive Shopping Saturday 12/09: Penniless Sunday (So Apply For New Credit Cards) 12/10: ATM Max-Out Monday 12/11: Take Out Loans Tuesday 12/12 – 23: The Twelve Days of Shopping Till Christmas Eve Extravaganza 12/24: Last Minute Shopping To Pick Up Gifts For The Wife We Ho-Ho-Hope you get to the stores early enough to qualify for great door-buster deals! To get you in the mood for Thanksgetting shopping -- after you consume your weight in turkey and candied yams -- here's a Thanksgiving poem by Emmett Lee Dickinson (below on the left). His poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem "So has a Daisy vanished" (below on the right).
In other holiday news, here's an exclusive look at the White House's Christmas decorations and Christmas cards. Below: Once again, Melanie Trump has decorated the White House in a hellish landscape: Below: The first family's official holiday cards feature Donald as "Trumpus," his favorite Christmas character, and Melanie:
From our 19th century historian, Eudora Dickinson: When Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request) pitched his idea for a national day of Thanksgiving to his best friend Abraham Lincoln – who was the President of the United States at the time – Lincoln was not keen on the idea. “All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother,” said Lincoln, “but her family is a lot like fudge – mostly sweet, but with a lot of nuts. I just don’t think I could stomach a feast with those people – even if just once a year.” Dickinson didn’t give up, though, and in 1863 he got Lincoln to proclaim a national day of Thanksgiving to be celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. Dickinson helped promote the new holiday by selling Thanksgiving day postcards with his poetry, and the public couldn’t get enough! They loved the postcards, they loved the poetry, and they grew to love the holiday – even if it meant having to break bread with objectionable and/ annoying family members – even if just once a year. Below are some the top postcards sold by Dickinson in the first years to promote Thanksgiving.
From our food editor Verla Burrell-Bordelon: How was your Thanksgiving? Did you eat unto a stupor? Or possibly unto dullness? Have you come out of your tryptophan coma yet? If so -- maybe it's just in time for leftovers (which some say are the best part of Thanksgiving). Emmett Lee Dickinson's wrote many haikus and poems about Thanksgiving, but he also wrote one about leftovers, "Take all away" (below on the left). His poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem with the same first line (below on the right). We hope someone had sense enough to "take all away" from your Thanksgiving table to save some for today!
From our political correspondent Dorothy "Lottie" Dawe: At a White House press briefing the other day, Sarah Huckabee Sanders required each reporter to state what he or she was thankful for before asking a question. The answers were varied and interesting. One said she was thankful for the First Amendment. Another was thankful for Robert Mueller and his team of investigators. Still another was thankful that President Obama had saved the nation from the Bush-Cheney recession in 2008. Interestingly enough, in this season of thankfulness, Good Housekeeping recently published a cover article with a similar theme. The article was entitled “Trump and his Clan: What Are They Thankful For?”
Eric Trump: "Don and I get to shoot hibernating bears now." Sarah Huckabee Sanders: "I can't tell you how thankful I am that my father taught me how to lie so easily." Mike Pence: "I am very fortunate to have two mothers, and my younger mother is always around to help me control my lust when other women are around." Stephen Miller: "What a blessing it is that tiki-torches are now the GOP’s thousand points of light. I fit right in now." Mitch MCconnell: "I’m thankful that in America it’s always 'too soon' to talk about gun control. And remember how people wanted congress to ban bump stocks? They’re so forgetful too. People won’t talk about bump stocks again until the next mass murder, and then that will be 'too soon.”' Paul Ryan: "I'm grateful that so many old, white men control the house and senate -- who better to legislate the control over women's bodies?" Jeff Sessions: "I'm thankful that I have the opportunity to reverse progress on all this civil rights mumbo jumbo." Kellyanne Conway: "I am so thankful I have no conscience or soul. That literally allows me to say anything for money, and I have no regrets or shame." Pictured below left and right: Two of the Trump's official Thanksgiving Cards.
From our 19th century historian, Eudora Dickinson: Emmett Lee Dickinson fans, rejoice! We are four posts into a five-post series called "The Thanksgiving Countdown" (the fifth post will be published tomorrow), and now -- on the busiest travel day of the year -- we offer an extra/bonus post: "The Road Taken." Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request) was the first to coin the phrase "the busiest travel day of the year" due to the heavy traffic on the turnpikes between Emily Dickinson's home in Amherst, MA, and Emmett Lee's home in Washerst, PA. Dickinson even wrote a poem about it, "The Road was lit with Brakes of cars" (below on the left). His poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem "The Road was lit with Moon and star" (below on the right).
We hope your travels today were light and that you made it to your Thanksgiving destination safely! |
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November 2023
PLOGA poetry log for the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum (above the coin-op Laundromat on Dickinson Boulevard in historic Washerst, Pennsylvania). Categories
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