Maria and I believe strongly in encouragement, our relationship began with the encouragement of each other, and when we can, we encourage others to follow their zeal and put their work out where it can be seen. The creative spark is a powerful gift, and once unleashed, can transform lives.
Maria and Jackie Thorne worked together in a frame shop in Saratoga Springs years before I met either one of them. They didn’t see one another for more than a decade until Jackie came to the Round House Cafe and they ran into one another while Maria was helping out by running the cash register to handle a huge crowd.
Their friendship picked up again, and Jackie told Maria she had been writing all of her life, and wanted to be published. Maria encouraged her and Jackie listened, and this week, she published her first book “Gone To Ground: Selected Poems And Essays,” available through Amazon and (for signed copies, Battenkill Books. I took this portrait of the two of the today (with my new – used- Zeiss portrait lens.)
After Jackie met Maria again, she joined my writing class at Pompanuck Farms and worked hard to finish this book. A happy thing all around. Jackie is strong, it takes courage to put yourself out there, especially for the first time.
We are very happy for Jackie and proud of her (see story below.) But I thought this photo captured the spirit of the day, in which our writing class gathered to celebrate Jackie’s new book. Encouragement matters, and it is the ethos of our class.
Jackie calls the book a collection of “poems rooted in darkness and poems reaching for the light.” That is true. Gone To Ground is on sale for $14.95, it is a bargain at that.
An important day for my writing class, held on Saturdays at Pompanuck Farm. Lisa Carrino made a beautiful lemon almond cake for us to celebrate “Gone To Ground: Selected Poems And Essays” by one of the students, Jackie Thorne, a writer, poet and photographer. Jackie will be reading at the Bedlam Farm Open House next weekend and she will have her first reading as a writer at Battenkill Books (you can buy a signed copy of Jackie’s new book from Battenkill) Saturday, June 25, 4 p.m.
The class listened to Jackie read from her new book, and we walked about the new ways in which writers named Jackie – she is one of the most gifted writers I have encountered in my teaching – are getting published. I expect four or five books to come out of the class this year, some self-published, some commercially published.
We are supporting Jackie in every way, mentioning her book our blogs, reviewing it, buying it and recommending it. We will be there for one another, and this is class of writers who want to be seen and heard. Maria came to the class as well, she encouraged Jackie strongly to write more and publish her work.
It is an exciting thing for me to see and be a part of. I highly recommend Jackie’s new book, her writing is warm, wise and touching.
From the poem “Gone To Ground:”
“I wish it were such simple a task
to straighten up my life;
tuck in heartbeat, pull up sadness,
cover over pain and strife
some choices lay like linen sheets
whose creases will never come out,
no matter how much I tug or iron
or or try to smooth them down
so I learn to live with consequences
make peace with all the mess
resolving to try with each new day
to leave one wrinkle less.”
Jackie’s beautiful book of poems and essays costs $14.95 and includes a number of her photographs. I recommend it highly. She is also a painter. You can buy the book on Amazon.Or from Battenkill books, 518 677 2515.
Mickey lives in my town, he lives with his brother George Forss, the famed photographer, who cares for him. Mickey walks the streets every day in all weather, and wears his woolen cap, even on 90 degree days like today. He suffered from a schizophrenic breakdown in the 1960’s, perhaps from a drug overdose. He is kind and gentle, but rarely speaks.
He has lived with a photographer all of his life, he is comfortable being photographed, I always show him my pictures. I pay Mickey $2 or $3 dollars per photo, he uses it to buy coffee. He smokes, but I don’t feel at ease buying him cigarettes, I’m not sure that’s up to me, though.
People in town take care of Mickey, the kids going by on the bikes often stop at Stewart’s to buy him soda or coffee. He is welcome to come into the Round House Cafe any time for coffee or to get out of the rain. In a community like ours, we all keep an eye out for Mickey, but he also takes care of himself and is well cared for by his brother George. Mickey is aware of everything and misses nothing, he says very little.
A good reader posted this question on my Facebook page the other day: “Has having a dog like Fate changed you?,” she asked.
I responded quickly, perhaps too quickly, in the way of the male ego, and said no, I’ve had energetic dogs before, and I didn’t think Fate had changed me. I suppose I wanted to be tougher and more resilient than that, as if those were good things.
But I am passionate about thoughtfulness, that increasingly rare thing in politics and on social media, and so I thought about this very good question.
And the answer, I think, is yes, Fate has changed me.
Every dog I have ever had – Orson, Lenore, Red, Izzy, Frieda – has changed me, why wouldn’t an explosive, determined and astonishingly bright dog like Fate? I believe every dog we have changes every one of us, some much more than others.
Fate forced me to look at myself in a number of ways, as wonderful dogs do.
She has a great and sweet heart, but so much instinct and drive she can barely hear commands, let alone obey them. She often seems to be rebellious, when she is just too excited. For dog lovers, especially men, this can trigger ego rather than thought. But training is not about dominance for me, it’s about communicating.
Fate is a working dog from a great working line, but she has no interest in driving or pushing or commanding sheep. I have never had a border collie with so much instinct and so little interest in pushing sheep around.
But she loves to work with them, at least she loves her idea of what working with them is. She especially loves to run to them, and around them. For their part, the sheep pay absolutely no attention to her.
Initially, Fate challenged me. She ran out of doors, refused to lie down, ran off to each chicken droppings, jumped all over people, grabbed food off the counter, pounced on poor Red.
She still does some of those things, but less and less. Training Fate is a lifetime experience, we make progress all the time. She has a great heart and wants to please, even when she can’t.
When I grasped that she wasn’t going to be a working sheepdog, it altered me and my view of myself. I suppose it was a question of pride.
Many people in the border collie world do not like me and my ideas, as is true of many people in the wider world.
People tell you they love you for making them think, but when you really do make them think, many will hate you for it. In America, thinking differently is often considered a hateful act.
When I get a border collie puppy, a lot of people are looking to see if I screw it up, people seem to need to do that, social media is a gift to them.
Lots of my ego has been battered into size by life, but I have a good and healthy one still, writers need them, and subconsciously I think, I revel in doing well with my dogs.
I am no better than anybody else but have a knack, I think, for helping good dogs to live good lives. I am good at communicating with them. I love them very much.
For all of my life, dogs have marked the passages of my life, been magical helpers for me. I want to do as well for them.
I love the way my dogs behave, how trustworthy they are, how loving, how responsive.
But with Fate, I had to let go of some of that, of any concern about what others think or might say, about my own ego and expectations. It wasn’t about her defying me, it was about her being her. Dogs can teach us much about relationships, if we pay attention and listen.
When Fate told me so clearly that morning “I am not Red, let me be me,” I heard it, and the fact that I could hear it and acknowledge it was not only about the dog. It was also an admission about me, and my evolving expectations for myself and for life.
I am well aware that some of this dynamic is also involved in my relationship with Maria and other people. We accept and understand one another, that is at the heart, I think, of our love.
Accepting Fate was not just a training thing, it was about my own limits, my own acceptance, my own sense of self.
And my own ability to love. Active listening and empathy, once more.
It would have been so easy to break the spirit of this fiercely independent and instinctive animal, it was important to put my own ego aside and listen and empathize.
She is a great dog, I love her more every day, so does Maria, whose dog she truly is. Let her be herself. I see men breaking down their sisters and wives and girlfriends all the time, insisting they be who they want them to be, not who they want to be and are.
So here, what I have learned as a human and what I have learned about dogs, mesh and interact. It’s hard to separate one from the other.
So in that sense – showing true patience, learning how to listen, being comfortable with who I am (and who she is) – yes, Fate had a true impact on me. I’m not sure if she changed me, or simply helped me to reveal who I am and have become and want to be.
My path has been learning about my limits as well as my strengths. I am always learning what I can do and what I cannot do, and I am so often wrong about both. Fate has helped me to see myself more clearly, as has my wife.
Life is a process, we are not one thing, we are many things, I don’t live in a black-and-white world, there are many shades. I hope I am always changing and growing. I believe that dogs mirror us, and who we are, if we think about it and pay attention, rather than dominate and emotionalize them, we can learn so much about ourselves.
That, I think, is their work, and our work if we love them.
So I thank you for the question, good reader, and apologize for my lack of thoughtfulness. I hope I’ve answered the question.
