Look and Listen

Biography

I was born when I was at an extremely young age. I have lived, read, studied. The primary ofject of my studying has been to find the author 'Shakespeare.' After many years, I think I've done it, and now I'd like very much to tell the story. I've written two books about it: a memoir, MIRANDA, HER LITEL BOOKE, and a scholarly essay, 'AND THEREBY HANGS A TALE: THE MEMOIRS OF AN ARSE POETICA. I married, procreated, married again, married again, and am presently widowed. A formative event occurred when I was a teacher of 'Honors English' in a downstate Michigan high school. I had just told my curious students that Shakespeare was born in Stratford in 1564, that he apparently owned no books, did not educate his daughters and that he didn't want his bones moved. His father was a butcher who probably could not write his own name, and Shakespeare maybe went to school for awhile. My students looked at me as if I had put a slug in a slot machine and expected -- what? In that moment I realized that I was going to go up against authority and ruin my academic career. But what the hell. At the present moment I have a kayak lying like a beached sunset whale down where the front yard becomes Lake Michigan. It is an image worth saving in memory.

Inspiration

I wrote my first real poem when I was about 11-12. I didn't want to. I had to. It was, literally, a dance with a deranged angel. The angel is still with me, still writing. He's gotten better.