An April Fool's Joke on Me

April Fool's Day is special at my house. It is the day my husband and I met a million years ago. We considered having "My Foolish Heart" and "What Kind of Fool am I?" played at our wedding, but we resisted. It is also the birthday of our dog Max.

Today I set about making a new book. I'd been anxious to do so since returning from the Rosie Kelly workshop in Memphis a few nights ago. I had painted a piece of paper and had cut out the rectangles to be glued onto the pages. This morning I chose a poem to be lettered on its pages. I chose and cut cover papers and end papers. Everything was looking good. I was happy. I made the covers. I assembled the book, double-checking cover placement. April Fool on me! I glued the covers on backwards. The covers opened the wrong way. I used PVA glue which had set tight. No changing it. What to do?

I made it a two-fer. I turned the back into a two-sided book. The end papers were too pretty to not be seen when the book was open. So, two poems by Carl Sandburg grace this book now. "Mask" is the first part of the book, and "Choose" is the second part.