For the past few months, I’ve been writing a series of “Divine Old Dog Poems,” many people assume they are about Frieda, since she is an old dog and I use photographs of her with the poems. As with most poetry, these poems are not all that literal, the Divine Old Dog could be any faithful and loyal old dog, for that matter it can also be any older human.
The poems are not about one dog, but about life, the the process of growing older that awaits all living things. The Divine Old Dog is a model of grace, she accepts her limitations, tries to remain loyal and faithful, tries to come to terms with the growing list of things she can no longer do. Do I relate to this, sure, but the poems are not really about me either. Poetry is a series of emotions, a state of mind, if I wish to write about Frieda, I wouldn’t need a poem to do it.
But Frieda is an inspiration for me, and I believe there is little more exciting or inspirational than taking a risk, venturing into a new area. This how I started a blog, how I started taking photos, how I did a Kickstarter project, tried a new kind of book tour. Now, I am drawn to music, I took one of the Divine Old Dog poems to Scott Carrino, a friend and the owner of the Round House Cafe – I’ve given him some writing classes, he has taught me some Tai Chi. Scott is a gifted musician, among many other things, and I asked him to look at the poem and see if it might be the basis for a song he could put to music.
We could change the words of necessary, get the pacing and language down. I am eager to figure out how to write music, Scott is a dream writing student, he is passionate about creativity, always ready to try and create something. Scott told me today he loves the poem, he definitely sees it as a song. If we can pull it off, we’ll debut it, either at one of the cafe’s open mike nights or even at the Photo Show reception February 20.
It is always exciting for me to branch out, to show myself to the world in a more vulnerable way, to take the leap of faith. I would love to see some poems turn into music, the Divine Old Dog feels like a song to me, it always has. I’ll keep you posted, and thanks for your lovely comments about the Divine Old Dog poems. They have encouraged me.