[RCL]

My Debt to Dick and Jane

I couldn’t read the Dick and Jane
that nearly drove this kid insane.
After school I would be cowed
trying to read their names aloud.
And more: See the cookies galore
from under the kitch- kitch- en door!
Do I recall that simple rhyme
because the brutal sweep of time
made me learn to read and write,
despite my Dicky/Janie spite?
It was a truly precious bane,
although their names still rhyme with pain.