the day came when I got to meet the Great WriterI got in line with the rest of thema copy of his new book clasped in front of each of usstore employees and hangers on stood about chattering
the line inched closerthen my turnI stood over him as he sat at the tablesetting the book down automatically in front of himhe looked up and almost made eye contact asking,“Who do I make it out to?”
I said my name and then,“Why such sparse use of punctuation?Are you being deliberately minimalistic?”
he looked up to see how long the line was behind methen replied,“I don’t use punctuation becausethe refrigerator magnet poetry kit I havedidn’t come with any”
I would read the inscription over and over again“William, don’t try so hard”
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