Hi everyone,
This afternoon I’ll pick up a copy of the CD of BYRON BIGGERS BAND. I’ve been to the studio to hear the results of our recent recording sessions and I have a copy on my computer of each of the nine numbers individually plus three poems I read solo, but the CD will be a finished program with all the numbers joined into one album.

One number is called “Love.” It’s a brief poem of two stanzas. When I was writing this one, the words sang to me. It was a love song about the happy union of Green-eyed Beetle and a Honey Doodlebug. On the CD, I sing the poem as I felt it. The other guys in the trio make fun of my rendering and urge me to get with it. They insist that I don my dark glasses, snap my fingers, and rap the poem. If there were a contest for World’s Worst Rapper, I would take home the trophy, but I give it my best shot.
So now it’s your turn. Here’s the poem. See if you can read/sing it as a sweet ballad about two lovestruck insects. Then give it your best version of a rap. You’ll probably do better than I, but the point of the exercise, other than having fun, is to remind us as poets that readers see, read, and feel our work according to their own background and experience. Sometimes the differences can be profound.

LOVE Said the green-eyed beetle To his honey doodlebug, “You’re sweeter than a rose And I want a little hug.” So they hugged and they giggled And a little later on They had a thousand kids named Green-Eyed Beetle And Honey Doodlebug, And they all lived together In a snug little rug. (c) David L. Harrison, from Easy Poetry Lessons That Dazzle and Delight, Scholastic Professional Books, 1999, all rights reserved