An excerpt from Will's "An American Spirit" & 52/365

An excerpt from

"An American Spirit", 

(middle of Chapter 10 - Of steel, greed, discord, and the rebirth of rebellion

by William R. Bednar

So Jack unto a hill did climb 

With instruments aplenty.

And a song he played to wind and sky

For Revolution's ears to catch, and so would hurry

The old spirit to America again.

Several instruments did Jack try

To reach his far off friend.

The piano, which couldn't cross the sky.

The trumpet, not unique enough.

The Violin too soft.

The guitar though, with its timbre rough,

Its electric pulse that oft

Cried of torture and rebellion

Found Revolution's ear.

The spirit, swift as a stallion,

Came home, and played rock and roll for all to hear.

And filled each adolescent boy,

Each girl who felt she must take a stand,

With strength and noise

To challenge Slavery, the businessman. 

The above is an excerpt from a class assignment he wrote last year (high school, junior year).  It is about Jack of the Tales.  He explained in his end of chapter 1 dialogue:  

"I was reading a comic book series called "Fables", a story about fairytale characters living in modern day New York, when I was stricken by the notion of one character in particular; Jack of the Tales.  I had never before realized how often a character named Jack appears in legends, and horror stories, and movies, what have you.  Take for instance just several manifestations of this "Jack of the Tales"; Jack of the Beanstalk, or Jack the Giant Killer, Jack Frost, Jack Skellington, and Jack Sparrow.  Jack was even an old time nickname for the Devil (which you may find ironic in later chapters).  Upon my musings I realized that America has very few fairytales of its own, and so I set out to write one, and in doing so, created my own version of our Jack; Jack of the Cards.  Cards, dice, luck, and gambling often play a pivotal role in the story, and it is my little game with you, dear reader, a sort of "Where's Waldo", to figure out where these are..."

I would love to be able to share what I consider a really fun "epic poem".  I think that is what it is.  If I get enough interest and Will's approval, I will put the whole thing on my blog in a few posts.  Chelsea, my daughter even doodled some drawings and I could post those as well.

I seem to be on a "kick" lately of highlighting my children's work.  I guess that is what comes from sorting and cleaning out drawers and shelves.