by William Stubblefield (Cross-posted from wmstubblefield.com)
In 1993, when I was living in Vermont and working as a visiting professor at Dartmouth College, Isis, died of old age. Although she was my wife’s cat, Isis and I had become friends, and she was a great companion through the long New England winters I spent planning lessons, grading papers, and finishing my own doctoral dissertation. Shortly after Isis passed, I wrote an Elegy for Isis, shared it with friends, submitted it to a few poetry magazines (without success), and then left it on my computer hard drive where it sat for many years. I did add it to my own web site when I began blogging, but for the most part it had, like much poetry, been forgotten. Happily, I can say that sweet Isis’ elegy has finally been published!
A few months ago, I was contacted by Keiko Ohnuma, the editor of the Bosque Beast, a beautifully conceived and realized newspaper for people who love animals and wish to see them protected and cared for. Keiko was writing an article on men who have worked for the welfare of animals, and she chose to include me in the piece by virtue of my work with Fabulous Felines. I met Keiko for the interview at the Flying Star Café, and immediately liked her, not only because of her fondness for animals, but also because we were both writers and shared the struggles and joys of people who are driven to place the world of sights, sounds, and sensations into the enduring magic of printed language. In the course of the interview, I asked if she would be interested in the poem. She said yes, and I sent it to her.
Elegy for Isis as published in the Bosque Beast
Unfortunately, space did not allow her to publish the poem with the interview, and once again, I forgot about it. So, I was both surprised and delighted to receive an email from Keiko telling me that Elegy for Isis was being published, both in the online and the print versions of the paper. I rushed out and grabbed three copies of the Bosque Beast, one to save, one to share, and one to frame. Although I have blogged for several years, and published technical papers and books, I still feel something strange, wonderful, and totally fresh on seeing my writing in print. I think this has something to do with knowing that other people have invested their creative energies in selecting fonts, laying the poem out on the page, adding illustrations, and seeing it through the difficult process of publication and distribution necessary to bring a work to life. It is as if their efforts had transformed my petty scribblings into something magical, something that has found its own place among all the words that have ever been spoken or written and still resonate through our little, blue planet – and that has returned to me as if newly discovered, but bearing a deepened, revelatory intimacy.
So, I thank Keiko and everyone at the Bosque Beast who made this experience possible, and urge you to visit the Bosque Beast to read an Elegy for Isis!
