"I threw a snowball across the backyard.
My dog ran after it to bring it back.
It broke as it fell, scattering snow over snow.
She stood confused, seeing and smelling nothing.
She searched in widening circles until I called her."
"In the old recording of the birthday party,
the voices of the living and the dead
instruct twelve absent friends
on the reliable luxury of gratitude.
The celebrated one hands out presents.
The dead dog barks once."
Merion Tribute House, now a catering venue, originally built as a community center and tribute to World War I veterans. The land and seed money was donated by Eldridge Johnson, founder of the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey (later rolled into the RCA [Radio Corporation of America] company — think Nipper / "His Master's Voice.")
“It is a strange fact that the population of dogs and dog breeds that we enjoy today largely emerged as a hobby for bored aristocrats in a tiny sliver of English history—during a period in which classification, measurement, and standardization became a national obsession.”