Full Tilt!

Many members of the Dickinson Organization of Poetry Enthusiasts (DOPEs) were in Roanoke, VA, this past weekend to attend a special event at the city's Pinball Museum:  the unveiling of the floor plan for the new Emmett Lee Dickinson wing to be added on to the museum. 

Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request) invented the pinball machine, and he wrote about his new contraption in his now-classic poem "The Wizard plays a Silver Ball" (at the bottom of the page on the left).  Dickinson's poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem "The Spider holds a Silver Ball" (at the bottom of the page on the right).

Pictured below:  Roanoke, Virginia -- home to the Pinball Museum.

​Below left and right:  Scenes from the Pinball Museum in Roanoke.

​Pictured below:  Floor plan for the new Emmett Lee Dickinson wing to be added to the Pinball Museum in Roanoke, VA.

​By Emmett Lee Dickinson:
 
The Wizard plays a Silver Ball
In rapid fire Shots –
And flipping swiftly by Himself
His Ball of Metal – darts –
 
It flies from Bank to Bank –
In exponential Speed –
Bonus Shots and Free Games for Him –
Were always guaranteed –
 
A Score to reign supreme
His Competence in Lights –
Then exits from the Mall’s Arcade –
His Standing’s not – forgot –

​By Emily Dickinson:
 
The Spider holds a Silver Ball
In unperceived Hands –
And dancing softly to Himself
His Yarn of Pearl  – unwinds  –

He plies from Nought to Nought  –
In unsubstantial Trade  –
Supplants our Tapestries with His  –
In half the period  –

An Hour to rear supreme
His Continents of Light  –
Then dangle from the Housewife's Broom –
His Boundaries  – forgot –
​