by Rocky Wood
Dino was discovered by the King community in March 2004 as the result of an auction at the world’s greatest flea market, eBay. C.S. O’Brien of Bowery Books in New York City offered for sale a copy of an obscure literary magazine, The Salt Hill Journal. The magazine happened to contain a poem by a Stephen King and, more importantly, carried a signature apparently from the Stephen King. O’Brien was selling the magazine on behalf of one of the magazine’s original student editors (this person does not wish to be named). His teacher at the time was Stephen Dobyns (more of whom below). It is thought that King signed only five copies. O’Brien kindly provided the author with scanned copies of the poem, magazine cover and signature.
After King expert Bev Vincent brought the auction to general attention its authenticity was quickly confirmed by King’s office. Wendy Bousfield, the now retired Reference Librarian at the E.S. Bird Library of Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York92 kindly provided your author with not only a copy of the poem but the following interesting information describing how such an obscure magazine came to carry a poem by one of the world’s best-selling authors; including a series of news articles relating to King’s appearance at the University. Wendy Bousfield93 and C.S. O’Brien are to be thanked for their assistance.
On 26 April 1991, King gave a reading in Syracuse University’s Landmark Theatre to help raise funds for the Raymond Carver Reading Series (Carver also taught in Syracuse University’s creative program, from 1980 to 1983). King refused to take any reimbursement for travel funds. The theater was completely full and, at between $7.50 and $35 per ticket, the evening netted $35,000, putting the reading series in the black.
According to the Syracuse Herald-Journal for December 12, 1995, “The king of horror fiction novels autographed several copies of the journal for a silent auction Wednesday at Barnes & Noble bookstore.” This places the auction on 13 December 1995. According to the article:
“He (King) has donated a considerable amount of money to the Raymond Carver Reading series and also has an interest in the creative writing program at Syracuse.” Thomas said that he came to know King through a mutual friend, Stephen Dobyns, who wrote the book “Cemetery Nights” and also has a poem in the magazine. “He said he (King) was inspired to begin writing poems after reading Dobyns’ book,” Thomas said.
Thomas or the reporter must have been misinformed for, as we know, King had been writing and publishing poems a quarter century earlier. Of interest is that in Insomnia Dorrance Marstellar gave Ralph Roberts a copy of one of Dobyns’ collections of poems, Cemetery Nights!
In The (Syracuse) Post-Standard for 21 April 1991 King told a reporter:
“I like Dobyns. I admire him as a writer. My wife’s a fan, too,” the 44-year-old King says in a phone interview from his home in Bangor, Maine. “Besides, I like the idea that schools have you come and the people listen to a reading, as well as learn to write.”
The Salt Hill Journal is a literary magazine, publishing poetry, fiction and book reviews. It is still published irregularly by a group of writers affiliated with the Creative Writing Program at Syracuse University and is funded in part by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate Student Organization of Syracuse University.
Dino appeared in the first issue of The Salt Hill Journal, for Autumn 1994, on pages 19 to 21. Stephen King kindly gave his permission to reproduce Dino here. It appears directly after this chapter and represents its first and only appearance in book form.
The twelve-verse poem, homage to Dean Martin, is very readable but not exactly what one might be expecting. It starts with the bald statement, “Dino is dying/ “Tragic last days!” say the tabloids/ and when the tabloids speak of death/ they always speak the truth.”
It continues to describe Dino’s failing body and mind (“Dino is getting a little soft upstairs”), he even forgot the words to “ ‘at’s Amore” on stage in Atlantic City! King then mentions other members of the Rat Pack, referring by first name to the already deceased Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis, Jr. and the still living (at least in 1994) Frank Sinatra (“an afterlife where these hepcat scouts/ have already set out the/ cigarettes and whiskey,/ not for him but for Frank.”) The poem goes on to mention Dino’s erstwhile partner, Jerry (Lewis), “Dino’s dying/ Jerry’s old pal.” We are reminded of the great hits, Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime, Me and My Shadow94, That Old Black Magic, I’ve Got You Under My Skin and Mack the Knife, which Dino sings “so cool and nonchalant at the Palladium.”
But now “Dino’s tux has been packed away,” “Dino’s screwed his last starlet,” “Dino’s in bed/ and almost dead/ “Tragic last days!” say the tabloids, and when the tabloids speak of death/ they always speak the truth.” And so the poem ends.
Martin actually died on Christmas morning 1995, a little more than a year after this poem was published, of acute respiratory failure, probably brought on by his years of smoking.
Previous to the poem’s discovery there was little in King’s body of work to indicate any fascination with, or any real interest in, Martin or the “Rat Pack.”95
Mostly Old Men (2009)
This poem appeared in Tin House magazine, #40 (the 10th anniversary issue, released in August 2009) and was the first King poem published for a decade and a half. It appears King may be returning to the form, with two more appearing in less than twelve months. The author had previously published Memory, an early release segment of Duma Key, in that literary magazine.
In only 30 lines King builds a picture of largely elderly men (“1000 old men”) traversing America’s highways, stopping at rest stops to allow their dogs a chance to relieve themselves and thereby forming a loose but anonymous coast-to-coast fellowship. In this poignant piece King shows yet again how he can draw the reader instantly into a scene. The poem ends, “…so many of them totter as they do/ their duty, tugged along by 1000 dogs/ (mostly old) sniffing the yellow tattoos/ on the grass – scents of other old dogs/ and old men, here where nobody knows anybody/ and the traffic never ends.”
Back copies of this issue of Tin House were available at the time of writing; and should also appear at eBay and other online sellers.
The Bone Church (2009)
This lengthy poem appeared in the November 2009 issue of Playboy magazine.
Here, a man describes an expedition to an elephant graveyard. The jungle they must traverse is so difficult, and the expedition faces such tragedy, that the geography itself (the jungle is nicknamed “greensore”) becomes a character.
Of the thirty two who entered the jungle only three survived to reach “the bone church” (the elephant graveyard) and King’s narrator lovingly describes many of the untimely departures; and the ghostly images of passing pachyderms, which ultimately lead to yet more tragedy for the survivors.
Copies of the magazine containing this highly evocative piece are easily found at online sellers.
Tommy (2010)
This one-page poem appeared in the March 2010 issue of Playboy magazine.
In it, the narrator reminisces about the day in 1969 when his friend Tommy’s funeral and a subsequent reception were held. Tommy was a gay hippie, and was buried in his favorite clothes, wearing a gay pride button (which his mother had discretely placed under his vest). It is forty years later as the events flood back and the narrator wonders how many hippies died in “those few sunshine years” and were buried in their iconic clothing, hair-styles intact, “Sometimes, at night, I think of hippies asleep under the earth.”
Clearly reflecting on King’s youth, the younger attendees of the funeral return to the narrator’s apartment at 110 North Main (it is later revealed as being in Orono). King once lived at 110 North Main Street in Orono, the same address. It was there he began to write The Dark Tower. As an aside there are a number of errors in timelines around music King refers to (each having been released after the events portrayed in the poem).
Copies of the magazine containing this elegiac piece are easily found at online sellers.
> So, this is King in the poetic art form. Of course, there are also examples of poetry by characters in King’s books (which, presumably, he wrote) to be examined by students of the form.
DINO
By Stephen King
For Stephen Dobyns
Dino is dying.
“Tragic last days!” say the tabloids,
and when the tabloids speak of death
they always speak the truth.
Dino Martini, we called him when we were kids,
as if even at ten we understood he was a soldier of booze,
the point-man of the highball generation.
Dino is dying,
bladder’s bad
eyes’re bad,
kidneys failing,
prolapsed here,
fused over there.
Dino is getting a little soft upstairs:
got on stage in Atlantic City,
dark Italian eyes glowing,
forgot the words to “ ‘at’s Amore”
and went hobbling from place to place
in the pink cage of the spotlight,
confused, seeming to look for something,
and finally began to weep.
A man helped him from the stage.
Whenna da moon hitsa yew eye
Like-a da big pizza pie
‘at’s Amore:
Remember?
Dino’s headed after Peter,
after Sammy,
and will probably discover
an afterlife where these hepcat scouts
have already set out the
cigarettes and whiskey,
not for him but for Frank.
They’ll have “You Make Me Feel So Young”
cued up on heaven’s starry stereo –
that Nina Simone version, which is the one
Frank mostly likes.
In the meantime, however, there’s this
little job to get out of the way,
these final dues to pay.
Dino is dying,
Jerry’s old pal,
the host of Hollywood Palace;
him who looked so good in black and white
in a helmet with net and camouflage on it,
fighting a movie war he never saw at
first hand, any more than The Duke,
with whom he rode horses in
Rio Bravo.
Dino is dying,
him who used to be able to make people
laugh just by hoisting his martini glass
and making a sound like Buh-buh-buh,
Dino has finished singing
“Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime”
“Me and My Shadow”
“That Old Black Magic”
and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”.
Dino has finished snapping the fingers of one hand
with a cigarette smoldering between the first two fingers
of the other hand
while he sings “Mack the Knife”
so cool and nonchalant at the Palladium.
Dino’s tux has been packed away.
Dino’s passport has expired.
Dino’s eaten his last steak in Lutece.
Dino’s screwed his last starlet,
given his last concert,
made his last movie,
done his last TV special.
Dino’s in bed
and almost dead.
“Tragic last days!” say the tabloids,
and when the tabloids speak of death
they always speak the truth.
89 Horror Plum’d, Michael Collings
90 Danse Macabre, Stephen King, Chapter 11 – Tales of the Hook
91 The Unseen King, Tyson Blue, p.105
92 One of Syracuse University’s campuses is Utica College in Utica, New York. King often tells reporters lazy enough to ask where he gets his ideas, “from a small shop in Utica!”
93 Wendy Bousfield is something of a King aficionado, having provided articles on three King novels to Beacham’s Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction, and another on The Shining for the Themaic Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
94 Sung with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr.
95 Martin is mentioned in Black House, Hearts in Atlantis, Insomnia, The Monkey, Movie Show, The Dark Tower and the Cat’s Eye screenplay
Premium Harmony (2009)
Premium Harmony first appeared in The New Yorker for 9 November 2009, King’s sixth piece of fiction for this prestigious magazine.
In this tale a couple arrive at Castle Rock’s Quik-Pik on a hot summer day. Married ten years, Ray and Mary Burkett now argue constantly. Ray thought the deterioration in their relationship was connected to Mary’s inability to have children, although “a year so after that, he bought her a dog, a Jack Russell she named Biznezz. She’d spell it for people who asked.” The harsh economy has forced them to consider selling their house, and they’re driving to a Wal-Mart to buy supplies. As they drive through Castle Rock we find, “It’s pretty dead. What Ray calls ‘the economy’ has disappeared from this part of Maine.” They stop at the Quik-Pik and argue about money, including Mary’s proclivity for sugary snacks. She leaves Ray and the dog in the car as she heads inside to buy her niece a ball, and a pack of the cheap cigarettes he’s requested, the Premium Harmony brand.
Mary takes some time and Ray sits impatiently in the air-conditioned car, waiting. A large woman rushes out to tell Ray his wife has collapsed in the store and the manager has called 911. “Ray locks the car and follows her into the store.” Mary is not just collapsed, but dead, having fallen without uttering a sound. This is confirmed when the Castle County Rescue E.M.T.s arrive, having been delayed by a car accident in nearby Oxford. They prepare to take the body away, telling Ray he can contact the mortuary, “Mortuary? An hour ago they were in the car, arguing.” Ray stays in the store, chatting inanely with the manager, and those who’d been there when Mary collapsed.
Finally, he goes outside. Perceptive readers, or at least those who own dogs, will have been on edge since Ray left the car. Sure enough, he’s forgotten Biznezz. It is this smaller blow that releases Ray’s emotions, “…this is so sad that he begins to cry. It’s a hard storm.”
Premium Harmony is a simple and understated tale of tragedy – the isolation that exacerbates failing marriages; and of sudden death – again illustrating King’s skill in relating simple slices of life. After Mary’s death onlookers chat to Ray, as they might in the real world. An old man says, “My wife went in her sleep … She just laid down on the sofa and never woke up.”
Many readers know King and his wife Tabitha are dog-owners and dog-lovers, which adds extra poignancy to Biznezz’s ignoble death. As is often the case, King taps here into the American Zeitgeist – describing the Main Street of Castle Rock as “dead”; and the fact the couple are being forced to sell their home; are both a reflection of the American economy at the time of writing.
The story seems to reflect earlier incidents in King’s fiction. In Cujo, for instance a dog traps a woman and her son in a hot car (the boy dies in the book, but not the movie) – here another hot summer day in Maine results in a dog’s death. More poignantly, Mary’s sudden death seems eerily similar to Jo Noonan’s in the heat of Derry in Bag of Bones. Perhaps this is one of the author’s deep fears – that his wife may never return from performing one of life’s mundane tasks? In real life, loved ones do die unexpectedly, and the survivors are left to carry on regardless – perhaps that is the lesson of this tale.
As a core Castle Rock story Premium Harmony is linked to all other King stories mentioning the iconic town. Castle Rock is the main setting for The Body, Cujo, Gramma, It Grows on You (but only the Nightmares and Dreamscapes version), The Man in the Black Suit, Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut, Needful Things, Nona (but only the Skeleton Crew version), Squad D, The Sun Dog and Uncle Otto’s Truck. It is a key location in Bag of Bones, The Dark Half, The Dead Zone and The Huffman Story.
It is also mentioned in Creepshow, Dreamcatcher, Gerald’s Game, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill, Riding the Bullet, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, Under the Dome and The Stand (Complete and Uncut version only).
In more specific links the Castle Rock Wal-Mart also appears in Bag of Bones; the Castle County Fair is mentioned and had previously also appeared in Bag of Bones – in that novel Dickie Brooks’ father claimed to have kissed Sara Tidwell there. A high school in Castle Rock is mentioned – high schools in Castle Rock appear in the following stories: Bag of Bones, Needful Things, Cujo, The Body, The Dead Zone and Uncle Otto’s Truck.
All King’s previous stories in The New Yorker have appeared in later collections and there can be little doubt his next fiction collection will include this Castle Rock tale. In the meantime the magazine is held by many libraries and copies can easily be purchased on the Internet.
The Reploids (1988)
The Reploids is one of King’s least satisfying short stories, mostly due to an unsatisfactory and inconclusive ending that does not even leave the readers with particularly interesting questions to ponder. King has only allowed publication in one anthology (although that has appeared in three different guises) and a magazine. A decade and a half later, fans are yet to see the story in a King collection and will most likely wait in vain. It is clear King himself is unhappy with this story and possibly regrets allowing its publication at all.
