POE, THE MUSICAL???

by Lonnie Cruse

I saw a blurb on the Internet recently about Poe, The Musical.

Say what?

Poe, the Musical?

Sort of blogs, er, boggles the mind, doesn’t it? Edgar Allen Poe, dancing? Or someone portraying Poe, dancing? Which simply means I’ve “pigeonholed” our dear, adopted father as someone too serious to do anything as frivolous as dancing. Who knows, he might have been terrific at the Tango? Might even have loved the Twist, if he’d only been born in the right decade? Totally possible.

Shame on me, because personally, I hate being pigeonholed, and I adore doing something/anything to surprise someone who I know has me pigeonholed, as in, ”She’d never, or she always . . . you fill in the blank. You’d be amazed (or maybe you wouldn’t?) at how many people thought I couldn’t write a mystery novel to save my hide. Or get one published? My own sons, back in their foolish teenage years, were willing to bet the farm that I couldn’t water ski, and their father was in total agreement. Sooooo, I water skied two summers in a row, the first to prove I could, and the second to prove the first wasn’t just a fluke. Then I gracefully retired from water skiing, while body and mind were still in one reasonable piece. My mamma didn’t raise any dummies. Lucky for my boys, they didn’t own a farm to bet.

So what’s my point here, assuming I have one? Don’t pigeonhole others, they’re likely to pop out and surprise you. And more important, don’t let anyone pigeonhole YOU! If there is something you’ve always wanted to do, but been told by others you couldn’t possibly do it, as long as it’s legal and moral (no need to wind up in the slammer just to prove a point, now is there?) why not go for it? Surprise yourself . . . and others. The worst you can do is fail, and at least you will have tried. You’ll know whether or not you were up to the task.

Excuse me, I’ve got to go put on my dancing shoes. And see if Poe’s dance card is full. With any luck . . . .