Category: Thanksgiving

Eat, Drink, and Wax Poetic

11/23/2022

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:

Tastiest turkey
This year has to be Elon's
Roasted Twitter bird.

Happy Thanksgiving, all y'all turkeys out there!

Talking Turkey

11/24/2020

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.

The turkey's ready.
A tasty buffet is set!
Please pass the vaccine.

Socially distanced
From crazy Uncle Donald ~
A great Thanksgiving!

It's Black Plague Friday ~
Rush to catch all the bargains
And the infections!

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).

Thanksgiving Haikus

11/27/2019

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.

Pictured at the left: Thanksgiving Hiakus by Emmett Lee Dickinson:

Happy Thanksgiving --
Who cares about the turkey.
When does the game start?

It's Thanksgiving Eve --
Quick stop at the tailor shop
To let out my pants!

Reminiscing with
Faded ghosts of high school past --
Happy Drinksgiving.

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")

The Reason for the Season

11/24/2019

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).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

Buyers, in the early morning
May be seen the stores among,
Shoving – plucking – shopping – buying –
Do the sales to them belong?

Buyers, when the sun is hottest
May be seen the crowds among,
Shoving – plucking – shopping – buying –
Taxed with bargains they bear along.

By Emily Dickinson:

Angels, in the early morning
May be seen the dews among,
Stooping – plucking – smiling – flying –
Do the buds to them belong?

Angels, when the sun is hottest
May be seen the sands among,
Stooping – plucking – smiling – flying –
Parched the flowers they bear along.

Déjà Food

11/25/2018

From our food editor, Verla Burrell-Bordelon:

I hope you were able to enjoy a savory Thanksgiving feast this past Thursday. I also hope you've been able to enjoy tasty leftovers again and again throughout the rest of the weekend.

Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request) loved Thanksgiving -- and left-overs too -- and he immortalized his love a feasting on turkey and on all of the many and various side dishes and desserts in his poem "One Helping had I – then the rest" (below on the left)."

Dickinson's poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem "One Blessing had I than the rest" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

One Helping had I – then the rest
Much larger to my Eyes
When I stopped gorging – satisfied –
I’d grown another size –

It was the limit of my Dream –
The focus of my Prayer –
A perfect – paralyzing Bliss –
Contented with this Fare –

I knew no more of Want – of Food –
Fantastic to the crumb
For these new Rations in my Soul –
Supremest Earthly Sum –

With Heaven consumed and Heaven to go –
I ate till I was Blue
Life’s Latitudes leant over – full –
My Judgment perished – too –

With Bliss so festively thus served –
With Paradise in store –
With Foods all served to Us – in Bowls –
I’ll masticate some more –

By Emily Dickinson:

One Blessing had I than the rest
So larger to my Eyes
That I stopped gauging – satisfied –
For this enchanted size –

It was the limit of my Dream –
The focus of my Prayer –
A perfect – paralyzing Bliss –
Contented as Despair –

I knew no more of Want – or Cold –
Phantasms both become
For this new Value in the Soul –
Supremest Earthly Sum –

The Heaven below the Heaven above –
Obscured with ruddier Blue –
Life's Latitudes leant over – full –
The Judgment perished – too –

Why Bliss so scantily disburse –
Why Paradise defer –
Why Floods be served to Us – in Bowls –
I speculate no more –

NOTE: Dickinson wrote an earlier version of this poem about Super Bowl buffets. You can find is HERE. Which version do you prefer?

The 2018 Shopping Season

11/22/2018

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).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

So has a Turkey vanished
From the plates today –
So entered many a diner
To Paradise they say –

Oozed so in flannel PJs
Day’s deserving nap –
Burping – stretching – snoring
Tomorrow we will Shop!

By Emily Dickinson:

So has a Daisy vanished
From the fields today –
So tiptoed many a slipper
To Paradise away –

Oozed so in crimson bubbles
Day's departing tide –
Blooming – tripping – flowing
Are ye then with God?

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:

Feast or Family

11/16/2018

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.

The postcard above includes the following lines by Emmett Lee Dickinson:

Most she touched me by her muteness –
Most she won me by the way
She presented her small figure –
Pie itself - for Turkey Day -

Third cousin Emily borrowed the lines in a poem she wrote that begins as follows:

Most she touched me by her muteness –
Most she won me by the way
She presented her small figure –
Plea itself - for Charity –

The postcard below includes the following lines by Emmett Lee Dickinson:

Somebody run to get the plate
And see if Dinner’s coming! Wait!
I see the treat upon the tray!
Death won’t hurt – now Dinner’s here!

Third cousin Emily used these lines in her poem "Dying! Dying in the night!":

Somebody run to the great gate
And see if Dollie's coming! Wait!
I hear her feet upon the stair!
Death wont hurt -- now Dollie's here!

A popular postcard by Emmett Lee Dickinson included the following lines:

My Heart upon a dinner Plate
Their Palate to delight
Cranberries and a Yam or three
Might please their Appetite

Emily Dickinson penned this poem based on her third cousin's poem:

My Heart opon a little Plate
Her Palate to delight
A Berry or a Bun, would be,
Might it an Apricot!

The Day After

11/24/2017

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!

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

Take all away –
The only thing worth fervency
Are leftovers – with informality –

By Emily Dickinson:

Take all away –
The only thing worth larceny
Is left – the immortality –

The Thanksgiving Countdown (5th of 5 posts)

11/22/2017

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?”

What were Trump and his administration thankful for?

Donald Trump: "I am so very thankful for the poorly educated. They have really bought it all, and I couldn’t have done any of this without them."

Donald Jr: "Even if dad reverses the elephant trophy policy or not, he said I can kill elephants now and bring home their tusks. He doesn’t care."

Ivanka Trump: "Aquazzura has come out with some new shoe designs, so I’m going to be 'designing' some new shoes soon."

Jared Kushner: "I am very thankful that we’ve done a great job convincing our base that this 'Russia thing' is fake news. Of course, if I do end up going to prison, I’ll get a pardon. Isn't it incredible how Trump’s convinced everyone that he’s the 'law and order' president?"

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.

Pictured at the left: The 2017 Thanksgiving Menu at the White House -- with delicious international entrees:

* Medallions of Hibernating Bear Cubs
* Elephant Steaks
* Trio of Endangered Species Casserole (including Western Lowland Gorilla, Black Rhinocerous, and Bernean Orangutan.

Click the image to enlarge.

The Thanksgiving Countdown: The Road Taken

11/22/2017

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).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

The Road was lit with Brakes of cars –
The Lanes were tight and still –
Desp’rate I – with the distant Miles
A Traveler who could Kill –
The traffic in Particular
Descending, down the Hill –
Unknown the ultimate ETA –
So I endured the hell –

By Emily Dickinson:

The Road was lit with Moon and star –
The Trees were bright and still –
Descried I — by the distant Light
A Traveler on a Hill –
To magic Perpendiculars
Ascending, though Terrene –
Unknown his shimmering ultimate –
But he indorsed the sheen –

We hope your travels today were light and that you made it to your Thanksgiving destination safely!