Bartering for a Sketch

8/31/12 Lamy fountain pen, Kuretake Brush Writer

“Do you like poetry?”

 

I was on my out of the Phinney Farmer’s Market when the young man near the exit posed the question. I looked around for books he might be selling, but I saw only his large yellow dog gnawing a chew toy at his feet.

 

“Are you giving a reading. . .?” I asked.

 

“Reciting,” he corrected me, tapping the side of his head. “They’re all up here.”

 

I needed to get home, but who could resist? “I’ll listen if you let me sketch you.”

 

“Deal,” he said, and began reciting his first poem.

 

When I finished the sketch, he asked to see it, and then asked, “Do you sketch all the time, or just poets?”

Who could resist, indeed.