I’m sharing a poem that is a tribute to two dogs, one fictional and one historical. It’s also a tribute to the enchanting connections that sometimes come when researching a novel.
This is another of my ars novelica poems—a term I coined for poems about the process of writing a novel, after ars poetica, a long-established term for poems about writing poetry.
Alric and Pompe
Fictional Alric barks in my head
I’ve left him out of my novel’s end
So I’m researching 1755 Sweden again
Would a family farm dog hang out in a house?
My fingertips tap the keyboard to search
And a real-life pup pops onto my screen
Pompe, companion of the Swedish naturalist
who coined the term Canis familiaris
Yes, Pompe and Linnaeus, an old story goes,
walked together each Sunday to church to attend
for exactly one hour, side-by-side in a pew,
then even mid-sermon, they’d get up and leave
And on weeks the biologist was home feeling ill
the canine was an hour-long churchgoer still
Historical Pompe cracks open the door
for my character Alric to saunter inside,
insert himself into a favorite scene,
and plop down at my protagonist’s feet
© Karin Fisher-Golton, 2025
When I wrote The Clock and the Boulder I wanted to create an authentic sense of time travel, including accurate specifics of everyday life in 1755 rural Småland, Sweden. I researched details such as clothing, tools, home construction, and diet. In a later round of editing—long after I’d pored over an interlibrary loan book about Scandinavian footware and scooped up a used volume on Swedish quilts—I realized that I needed to know if an eighteenth century Swedish farm dog would be welcome in a house.
My internet search did not provide satisfying results. So I tried posting to the Swedish Traditions and Culture forum on Facebook. Not only did people have perspectives and anecdotes from their own family histories that suggested farm dogs would be welcome in a house, but a couple people alerted me to the story about the Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and his dog Pompe, which is described in the poem. Linnaeus created the naming system and many of the scientific names for plants and animals still used today—including the scientific name for dogs themselves, Canis familiaris.
One detail that is not mentioned specifically in The Clock and the Boulder is that Alric is a Swedish Vallhund, a breed with a history in Sweden that goes back over a thousand years to the Viking days. You can read more about Swedish Vallhunds and enjoy some adorable photos here: https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/swedish-vallhund/.
Here is how Alric is depicted on the back cover of The Clock and the Boulder by cover artist Marik Berghs. I could not find a portrait of Pompe, but I like that these two dogs now are connected, across time and imagination.
from back cover of
The Clock and the Boulder
by Karin Fisher-Golton
For a thought-provoking poem by Laura Purdie Salas, in the form of a letter from peace to humans, plus links to to more poems on this Poetry Friday, visit Tabatha’s The Opposite of Indifference blog. Thank you, Tabatha, for hosting!
Karin Fisher-Golton 
Oh, my goodness! Ars novelica simultaneously cracks me up and has my respect. Your poem and associated story are fun and interesting and special and I feel like I get it! There’s so much to write about writing a story and it doesn’t necessarily need to be in the final product. A wonderful post, Karin. Thank you for sharing this.
Thanks so much for coming by and sharing these thoughts, Linda. I like how you expressed “simultaneously cracks me up and has my respect.” That’s how I feel about it. Writing a novel is so immersive–it’s good to wean off the writing and world this way.
I LOVE the rabbit holes that novel research takes us down. What a fascinating little tidbit on Carl Linnaeus! That is SO cool – and that his dog managed the worship hour without him, even! 😂 Thanks for sharing this!
Thanks! This was a particularly good discovery at the end of a rabbit hole. In some of the accounts I read, it seemed that others were more bothered by Linnaeus leaving services early than they were about bringing his dog, which I also found interesting.
What fun, Karin, to read about your research and discover Carl Linnaeus in another way. I love the ending of your poem, connecting right back to you!
Thanks, Linda! I was a Biology major in college, so Linnaeus really was showing up after a long time in a new way.
I’m echoing others, but I love the richness of backstory here! And I love the picture conjured by the final couplet:
insert himself into a favorite scene,
and plop down at my protagonist’s feet
You pull the inspiration and the fictional creation together.
Thanks so much! For me, the experience of revisiting that scene was strikingly vivid. I’m glad some of that came through in the poem.
Love this peek into your process, Karin! Research is so interesting! Thank you.
Thanks, Rose!
Your poem tells such a great story! I’m saving it in my poetry e-file. So glad you got your answer 🙂 “Ars novelica” is a terrific concept/form. Going to click on your book now!
Thanks so much, Tabatha! I’m honored to think of this being in your e-file–and on the week you hosting Poetry Friday too! And thank you for checking out my book.
Karin! You were so right about our history/dog post connections this week, though yours goes back farther than mine. Love the sneak peek into some of your researching/writing processes. Thanks for sharing all of this – who knew our ol’ pal Linnaeus had such a wonderful canine pal? This is all delightful – and I loved how it informed your book character. Woof!
Oh – that was me, Robyn HB. ;0)
Thanks! I love knowing you experienced the poem and post that way. And thank you for adding your name. I think I would have figured it out this week, but nice to have your name here to remember.
Oh I love this little poetic dip into time-travel with Alric and Pompe! When I’m stuck on my PB drafts, I turn to poetry to find all sorts of paths in and out of the story. Ars novelica!! Genius!
I love knowing that poetry is part of your writing process too! Writing poetry has supported all kinds of my writing in so many ways.