Imagination Is More Important Than Knowledge

 

Ed Baker

Originally published in The Evergreen Review Issue 120 in October, 2009.
 

I imagine
that

I am
Bert Lahr

's son
and that

when dad
was
trying
on

Waiting for Godot

before doing it on
Broadway

deciding about
it
he came

into my
room

he came
into

my room
one evening
and
read:

Estragon: All the dead voices.
Vladimir: They make a noise like wings.
Eastragon: Like leaves.
Vladimir: Like sand.
Estragon: Like leaves.
(and then
and then
again

John ben Bert
Lahr

continues as his
dad

continued:
"He writes beautifully, doesn't he? His meter - he's a poet,
isn't he? His rhythm is crisp; there's meter to it, same as poetry.
It's not cumbersome; it's in character. It flows."

I imagine
that I am
this

Cowardly Lion:

"put 'em up. put 'em up. yuh
wanna fight?

yuh
wanna?

yah
wanna?

put
'em
up
put 'emmmmm up....