Digressions: My Life in 500 Words or Less

A few weeks ago I received a belated birthday gift from my little sister. It makes me smile each time I wear it. The t-shirt depicts a lute, the word “Bard” and a humorous definition. The definition says, “Words carry weight. Mine far moreso than yours.”

This shirt is a fitting gift for multiple reasons.

First, of course, as a writer, the moniker “bard” is particularly significant. Though a bard is traditionally a poet or singer of epic or heroic verse, the term has had other applications. Most notably, playwright and poet William Shakespeare, who has come to represent masterful writing in general, earned the nickname “the bard of Avon.” Thus, to some — and that includes me — the term “bard” is associated with writers. So, yeah, the t-shirt has special significance to me, a former journalist and active novelist, poet and short story author.

Another reason the t-shirt is appropriate is the organization I founded and facilitate: The Bard’s Corner Writers’ Group. I keep an email address list of active members so I can send reminders and notes, and I regularly address members as “fellow bards.” Sometimes members respond to my emails using the same salutation. We are all bards in that group, regardless of what type of material we write or how long we’ve been writing.

On top of that, next week The Bard’s Corner Writers’ Group will celebrate its 18th birthday, having been established on Sept. 2, 2002. (Wow, has it really been that long?) The shirt feels like not only a birthday gift for me, but one acknowledging my group’s upcoming milestone. The Bard’s Corner Writers’ Group has been a successful and humbling experience for me. The group has seen members in a wide range of ages and experience levels. It has seen members writing in diverse genres and traveling from several counties throughout the state. It is still going strong.

Finally, a bard is also a character class in the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Yep. I’ve played D&D for something close to 40 years. Just days before I received the t-shirt, I started playing D&D online with family members, and not long before that I chose for my character to be a bard. It might have seemed like an obvious choice, given my background, but I actually had decided against playing a bard at first. It wasn’t until I took into consideration several other factors that bard ended up being my ultimate choice in class. So, yeah, the shirt was timely and relevant there, too.

On so many levels, that gift is meaningful, both in timing and in content.

You can’t ask much more from a t-shirt.