Tag Archives: Shakespeare

My Teenage Flirtation with Poetry

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I kept journals. During my senior year in high school and throughout college, and again for two years in my early 30s after my father died, I filled more than 20 blank books with the minute details of my inner and outer lives.

A few months ago, I found them in a box in my basement. After reading a few entries, I quickly realized I wasn’t ready to revisit my past. I closed the box, put it back on the shelf and returned to my daily routine.

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Momposter Syndrome (or Wherefore Art Thou, Romeo & Juliet?)

The “Romeo and Juliet” script was sitting on the dining room table, looking forlorn and abandoned. It was 11:30 am. A mere three hours earlier, I had assured Sophie on the way to the bus stop that I had put it in her backpack.

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School’s in Session and My Girls Remind Me of Certain Shakespeare Characters

It’s back to reality for Chloe and Sophie.  The lazy days of summer are over, there are no vacations planned any time soon and worst of all (for them, not me), they’re back in school.

For Chloe, 7th grade doesn’t represent much of a change.  She’s lucky enough to have the same core subject teachers as she did last year.  So far, she only has two big gripes (not bad for her).  One, she’s in an elective class that she regrets choosing.  Mind you, she’s only had the class one time so far, but Chloe is not one to take her time forming opinions.  Two, she was placed into a gym class that she can’t stand.  And why can’t she stand it, you ask?  Because it’s “Team Sports” and Chloe and team sports are like oil and water.  They just don’t mix.  I am girding myself for a torrent of verbal diarrhea about her plight this afternoon.

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My Little Sophie

Sophie makes me laugh.  She is warm, loving and funny.  Very funny.   She has a bit of the performer in her, and as Chloe and I were watching “American Idol” tonight, I began to wonder, what if?

What if little Sophie turned into superstar Sophie?  I don’t think she’d be a singer.  Her voice is not very good.  She might end up a songwriter, however, because she’s constantly making up new lyrics to old tunes.  She’s even a bit of a poet, albeit one with a 3-year old vocabulary.  However, I don’t think there’s much superstardom in poetry unless she turns out to be the female Shakespeare of her generation (in which case the fame would likely come post-mortem and be meaningless anyway).  She’s a talented puppeteer and a fairly decent manipulator of emotions – the latter talent might lead to a successful career as an actress.  Once she’s mastered what the letters of the alphabet look like, she might write a bestselling novel, although I think Chloe would be more likely to pen the next literary masterpiece.  If all else fails, Sophie unabashedly loves to shake her booty, as several videos on this blog have demonstrated.  As long as that doesn’t lead to an illustrious pole dancing career, I’d be fine with a dancer in the family.