It’s strange how something you’ve enjoyed can disappear from your life and all too soon you forget about it, and then, if it returns, you wonder how you’ve managed without it. This week Garrison Keillor’s resurrected Writer’s Almanac popped up in my mail box. First thought: yeah! Second thought: what callow breed of fan are you that you’d forgotten how much you missed it?    

Over the years GK, a crumpled maestro of self-deprecation, has brought much joy to my life. I love his books. I love singing along to A Prairie Home Companion. And now there’s the unexpected pleasure of a revived Almanac.

The Writer’s Almanac is a daily shot of information, delight and whimsy. Subscribe to it. You won’t be sorry. Until it disappears again. You usually get a poem as well as all the other stuff and I quote today’s in full because, well, you’ll see. Now read on.

Advice from a Bat

by Michael T. Young

Hunt only at night. Fly erratically.

Defy even your own expectations.

Feed on beetles, moths, and mosquitoes,

whatever is small and annoying.

Cultivate the myths about you

until every predator fears your legend.

When hunting, be guided by a language

only you can hear. The same is true

when courting the one you love.

Clean fangs and fur nightly. Crawl

or climb to confuse the observant.

Retreat to a cave no one believes in.

Let the day and the world pass

while you sleep, and sleep upside down,

ready to wake and fall into flight.

“Advice from a Bat” by Michael T. Young from The Infinite Doctrine of Water. © Terrapin Books, 2018.

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