Tell Me A Story

In this season of discontent, I have gone back to enjoying some of the things I have enjoyed in the past. Among them is watching HBO’S True Detective series, Season 3 with Mahershala Ali and Carmen Ejogo. 

During one of the first episodes, Ejobo, who plays a high school English teacher, is reading a William Penn Warren poem to her students, a poem that goes like this:

Tell me a story.

In this century, and moment of mania,

Tell me a story.

Make it a story of great distances and starlight.

The name of the story will be Time,

But you must not pronounce its name.

Tell me a story of deep delight.

While watching, I was mesmerized by Ejobo’s reading, which gave me one more interest to pursue during these days of imposed isolation and physical distancing - poetry.  

Here is one I wrote a while ago. I hope you enjoy it.


I was a stranger

When I walked in

And tried to take over your life.

You held up your hand,

Holding me back,

But I, like a storm,

Would not be deterred.

I pushed.

You pushed back

Until finally you conceded.

“Hello, Friend,” you said.

“Hello Friend,” I sighed.



Now it’s your turn. Tell me a story.