The Show

I bought a ticket to a crazy show. The crowd around me grabbed some things to throw. The singers on the stage all ran away, And I am gonna miss my best toupee.

In the fall this year I went to a songwriting workshop. My favorite band, Over the Rhine, facilitated it. I met beautiful musicians and really appreciated having face time with the band I’ve followed since like 1994.

As an exercise, we each wrote a verse in iambic pentameter. I knew the format from having gone to a college prep schools (grades 5 -12 were all college prep for me) with great language programs. In fact, my class’s valedictorian wrote her entire speech in iambic pentameter. We rolled our eyes at each other at the time, but obviously today I see what a genius she was. I’m sure she’s a doctor of something today, heading up some prestigious university some place better than here.

I couldn’t stifle a giggle when I finished that verse, and was quite pleased when Linford, who was leading the exercise, said my verse was “very Shel Silverstein.” What a compliment! I loved Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic as a kid, and always smile when I revisit his work. I never cared for The Giving Tree, but I also can’t stand how the right has turned it into some cautionary commentary on socialism.

A friend who’s an artist offered to bring something to life for me, so I shared the verse with him. I can’t wait to see what he creates.