Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read an excerpt from the novel “The Tidewater Tales” by John Barth, posted below.

Our prompt was: “Write about the story you would like someone in your life to tell.”

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An excerpt from the novel The Tidewater Tales by John Barth.

KATHERINE SHERRITT SAGAMORE, 39 YEARS OLD,
AND 8 ½ MONTHS PREGNANT, 
BECALMED IN OUR ENGINELESS SMALL SAILBOAT, 
AT THE END OF A STICKY JUNE CHESAPEAKE AFTERNOON
AMID EVERY SIGN OF THUNDERSTORMS APPROACHING
FROM ACROSS THE BAY, 
AND SPEAKING AS SHE SOMETIMES DOES IN VERSE, 
SETS HER HUSBAND A TASK.

Tell me a story of women and men, 
Like us: like us in love for ten
Years, lovers for seven, spouses
Two, or two point five. Their Houses
Increase is the tale I’d wish you tell.

Why did that perfectly happy pair
Like us, decide this late to bear
A child? Why toil so to conceive
One (or more), when they both believe
The world’s aboard a handbasket bound for hell?
Well?

Credit: John Barth