Like my father, I am afflicted with an eidetic memory and a fondness for performing.

Dad, as a grade school student was told to memorize and recite so many lines of poetry. He learned a part of Rudyard Kipling's "The Ballad of East and West", ending his recitation on and.

In 1989, I recited most of "Barbara Frietchie" in honor of the centennial of the Carnegie Library of Braddock, Pa. Which was Andrew Carnegie's first library.

Being dubiously blessed as I am, there is a lot of verse stored between my ears. I once learned a rude limerick while sitting on a friend's toilet. I still know it. I still know "Mrs. Ocean Takes In Washing" that I had to learn in the third grade, and the several poems I memorized in grade school because I liked them. Oh yeah, I still know Barbar Freitchie, and all my lines from "Our Town" that we did in high school.