If Emily Dickinson had a Schutzhund Dog

So I'm an animal person, and definitely a dog person. I currently have one dog (the German shepherd, Jeffrey, that is sitting in my car in my profile picture) that is Schutzhund trained and a puppy (Ajax, a border collie Norwegian elkhound mix) that I am starting on Schutzhund training. For those who aren't familiar with the sport, it consists of training dogs for protection. They aren't really "attack" dogs, but they are trained to protect their handler at all costs. It is based on a very advanced form of obedience training and encouraging a dog's natural drive to protect its pack. Police dogs and security dogs are put through this type of training.

Emily had a big dog. Newfoundlands are water dogs, but they look very similar to the bouvier de flandres, a French police dog that is very popular in Schutzhund. Now my question, is what would Ms. Dickinson do with a Schutzhund dog? What if her dog looked anything like the dog in the above picture?

I don't think Emily had a very timid personality at all. She wasn't afraid to challenge the norm and liked to surprise people with the unexpected. She didn't really seem to care about what people thought about her. Given this type of personality, giving her a Schutzhund dog might have been like giving her a loaded gun. People who were apprehensive about meeting her before might not even want to tread near her doorstep. Then again, it may have changed her perspective on everything and greatly influenced her poetry. As someone who chose to be isolated for whatever her reasons might have been, a dog like this might have changed her perspective on people. With that kind of dog, you don't really have to be afraid of much. You feel more empowered, and that may have influenced the tone of her poetry greatly.

Anyways, it was something that I've been thinking about for awhile. I honestly think it would be very funny to see Emily with a big bouvier or German shepherd by her side kicking some butt. Given how angry she got with people who did not respond to her letters, those people might have had more to worry about than an angry letter back. They might find a big black dog on their doorstep ready to inflict some justice.... :-P

Creative Work

So for my creative work...I went a little off the deep end.

Well not really.

I decided to make my own fascicle, which in hindsight probably wasn't as an original idea as it initially seemed. I "aged" some paper, folded it, wrote on it, and bound it in the way Emily Dickinson would have done. Oh, and I also added a nice finishing touch with my "PERFECT" cursive. It's fun to decipher (even for me)...just like Dickinson's.

As such, I have written here, in a "published" form, the poems contained in my fascicle. Each poem is influenced by a theme in Dickinson's poetry, so unlike her fascicles there is no overarching theme present and there is no defined order to the poems. Poems are complete with variations, alterations, and "mistakes" to reflect the fluidity of writing that Dickinson believed in. The poems also contain varying Capitalizations and dashes -

Enjoy!

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And so the darkness comes -
A realization Setting in -
Fear is in the Design
While the pattern is Unknown.

Light Fading - *dizzy blind -
Sinking farther Downward to
Only another Knows -
Relinquichs all Thought to Graves

*Confusion

-----
I Turn my Eyes to the Sun -
Diminishing Shapes - surround -
The new World I see to come -
*All Essence Remains -

*Only Spirit remains henceforth

-----
Stars align A velvet Night -
The skin is Cold - a smile appears -
Put to Rest - Lives final thoughts
Of new Bedfellows for Eternity.
The Eyes no longer See -
Feeling is Lost - stiffened movement -
But shape reminiscent
Of what was once so glorious in Life.

------
Furious Butterflies swim in my Brain -
Although no route to they pursue -
I fall through Dreams -
And I see the Flower wilt.
No longer pure, but strangely changed.
As life is reopened
A new World to view -
More for me and less for you -
But still I see withing your
Soul a Virtue I cannot be
Betrothed to.

-----
Appealing to the Country Girl -
To save her from Herself -
A life* of sewing a barren field -
The White Sacrament a Saving -
Grace - all lost to a new master.

Enthralling to the City Dweller,
A womb to occupy with an heir -
Beauty to own and to serve Every Need of His -
Of no Sincerity - Passion absent.

The two together hold their hopes -
Neither realize the piece of union -
Where dreams are selfish -
One thrives while the other Dies.*

*fate
*Slowly they make their coffins - The Grave welcoming the Bride.

-----
A companion Lies beside my side -
Protector and Confident all in one -
To Him I tell my secrets
Thought Understanding escapes him.
A Kiss when I am Wronged,
A nudge whilst I am Fearful -
He walks by my side
And finds my way ahead of
Me.


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