A Brief History of Sundog Poetry

Written by Tamra Higgins, founder

The inception of Sundog Poetry Center in early 2013 grew out of two converging factors. The first one was that I had just earned an MFA in creative writing with an emphasis in poetry from the University of Maine’s Stonecoast program, and I was determined not to be another student who did nothing with their writing degree. A second factor was that, as a teacher of almost 20 years in the elementary and middle school classrooms, I had become increasingly frustrated with the shift occurring in education which was pushing poetry (and other creative and artistic subjects) out of the curriculum due to the STEM movement. I wasn’t and still am not out to argue against the importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). There’s perhaps never been a time in our country when the rigors of science and its truths have been needed more. But I knew, still know, that poetry and other creative arts are also vital to the lives of millions of individuals, vital to understanding, interpreting, and expressing the worlds in and around us, vital to creative problem-solving, vital to living in a holistic culture, vital to thinking.

Thus, I quit my teaching job and started a new business, Sundog Poetry Retreat, LLC, with the intention to hold events and retreats where people of any age or experience could come and immerse themselves in poetry. In the autumn of 2013 I held the first Sundog event, Poetry, Music, and Delectable Delights at Visions of Vermont art gallery in Jeffersonville. As luck would have it, someone had told me about the Vermont poet Neil Shepard – now a leader on the current Sundog board of directors – and he agreed to be the first poet to kick off the very first Sundog event.

Soon, very soon, it became evident that a for-profit business in poetry was not going to work. I wanted to offer workshops, retreats, and a slew of other poetry related events, but how was I to manage it?

The following winter (2014), I had more good fortune in that an acquaintance told me about a free workshop being held at the Jericho library. I took it. The workshop leader was Mary Jane Dickerson. I remember sitting at the table at her workshop for the first time and realizing that what she was doing was exactly what I hoped to do with Sundog. Mary Jane’s style and approach to teaching showed that poetry can be simultaneously accessible and stimulating, both democratic and deep. After just one workshop session, I asked if I could meet with her. I shared my Sundog vision and without a second’s hesitation, she agreed to develop a nonprofit with me. We were on our way.

I’d like to share a little bit about the word “sundog.” As I am sure many of you know, a sundog is a natural phenomenon that appears in the sky. It appears when ice crystals refract and scatter light creating a halo around the sun causing two additional “suns” on either side. It is uncertain why they are referred to as sundogs (the scientific name for them are parhelia and yes, I almost named the organization that!). One possible explanation for the origin of the word is that the two “suns” in the refraction follow the real sun the way a dog follows its master. Another explanation is that the word dog is actually a perversion of old English dag meaning dew or mist. Regardless of the word’s origins, sundogs reflect and increase the light, and that, after all, is what poetry does.

Lastly a side note: a sundog even appears in Shakespeare’s King Henry VI in this passage:

EDWARD

Dazzle mine eyes, or do I see three suns?

RICHARD

Three glorious suns, each one a perfect sun;
Not separated with the racking clouds,
But sever’d in a pale clear-shining sky.
See, see! they join, embrace, and seem to kiss,
As if they vow’d some league inviolable:
Now are they but one lamp, one light, one sun.
In this the heaven figures some event.

EDWARD

‘Tis wondrous strange, the like yet never heard of.
I think it cites us, brother, to the field,
That we, the sons of brave Plantagenet,
Each one already blazing by our meeds,
Should notwithstanding join our lights together
And over-shine the earth as this the world.
Whate’er it bodes, henceforward will I bear
Upon my target three fair-shining suns.

— King Henry VI, Part 3, Act II, Scene