Writers' Workshop: My 80th Birthday -- letter and poem.

I had so much fun with the pseudo-predictive piece: My 81th Birthday, I did two companion fictional pieces: A Friendly Letter and a Poem. (My Language Arts class had been studying both forms.) Here are the results:

11/20/33

Dear Joanna,

Thanks for your visit. I’m enclosing a little story I wrote, My 81st Birthday, plus a poem. Both explain what was going on in my head when you came to visit. Sorry for not getting it, and for not asking you more questions. Thanks for still loving your dad, even when he’s falling apart. Thanks for the lift.

Love,

Dad

PS: Please share this with Abby and her dear Danielle.
PPS: I have the volleyball sitting on top of my TV.



Here’s the poem:

Now I Get It!

A volleyball inscribed to Danielle.
I had no idea there was writing at all.

I didn’t see the writing.
I couldn’t read the card.
I didn’t know that getting old
would be so dog-gone hard.

But I kept on asking questions,
and I learned about the ball.
I learned about Danielle’s love,
and I began to bawl.

I may not see or hear too well,
but I’d better not just fake it.
I need to still be honest,
and admit that I don’t get it.

Dear Joanna, Abby, and Danielle,
thank you for your gifts.
Your visit, your thoughts, your words,
have given me a lift.



Love,
Great-G-pa Don