In college, as an English major
I chose Chaucer as my mandatory
Column B on the menu, Shakespeare
my easy Column A choice since the bard
and I were at least passingly familiar
although he claimed not to remember me.
Milton just wasn’t my cup of mead
so he easily became the odd man out.
I listened to the lectures, got comfortable
with the professor’s ideas on book and text
and the role of dreams in the Tales,
and I did a passable, if barely so,
job on my papers finishing with
a solid B-, which did surprise me
as I never actually read the Tales.
Half a century on from getting
that first college diploma I realize
I should honor Chaucer by finally
reading the Canterbury Tales
and I will definitely do so eventually.