Since 2011, I’ve been performing my stories to anyone who will sit down for a few minutes and listen. Sometimes it’s just a family, sometimes it’s a high school US History class, sometimes it’s a whole LOT of fourth graders, a large dinner party of retired people, or a public library.

I love the English language.  There are a thousand ways to say everything, and some of them are rhymed and metered. And just a couple of those sound natural, unaffected, and even off-the-cuff – maybe like Chaucer, in the Knightes Tale:

Hir yelow heer was broyded in a tresse,
Bihinde hir bak, a yerde long, I gesse.

If I get it just right, you may not even notice the rhyme.  Or you might find your brain hunting for it, while your ear is trying to listen to the story.  I promise to tease a little.

I guess my best compliment came from the fourth graders.  They heard my cookie story, and went back to their classroom and asked their teacher, CAN WE WRITE SOME POETRY?

Yes.  Yes, you can.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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