Friday, February 10, 2006

All thumbs

This morning, 6:30, rising and shining, I felt the following words flash into my mind:

Where is thumbkin?
Where is thumbkin?
Here I am.
Here I am.
How are you today, sir?
Very well, I thank you.
Run and hide.
Run and hide.
A small but crucial part of my poetry base, forgotten for a long time. I was fascinated as a little kid by the idea of fingers having polite conversations but then running away. And I sang this song with my children when they were younger.

Why did this song return? Perhaps because I'm looking forward to trying out the Thumbthing, a nifty tool for reading. I am all thumbs.

Update: I tried the Thumbthing. It is a nifty tool, but I'm going to stick with my thumbs.

comments: 2

Anonymous said...

Re: the thumbthing. I immediately thought of the eyeglass extension invented by Steve Martin's Navin Johnson in The Jerk. Be careful there are no unpredictable side effects.

Michael Leddy said...

Hi Stefan!

I think in this case, the natural, err, appendage is adequate to the job. The Thumbthing didn't make it any easier to hold a book open. If anything, it was less comfortable. But many people are enthusiastic about this gadget. Whatever works, as we now say.