David Copperfield.

My father died when I was not quite eight. He had taught me to read at a rather early age and I took solace from the books he left. I found David Copperfield and crawled between the covers.

David was a resilient little guy who taught me a lot about survival, along with the fact that there were many who had it worse than I thought I did.

Once I reached my teens, I discovered a seamier side of literature, in a dim, basement book shop, and devoured the "beat" poets, Ferlinghetti and Rexroth being my favorites. For a time, LF's Junkman's Obbligato became my guide to life. " ... I am the refined type. I cannot stand it. I am going where asses lie down with customs collectors who call themselves literary critics ... ."

Mary