Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished - Revised & Expanded Edition (45 page)

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 Shadow
⁹⁴
,
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