One of the few highlights of the pandemic has been the monthly meetings of the North Shore Shakespeare Society, the unashamedly grand name for our little book club that’s reading all of Shakespeare’s plays in the order in which they were written. Our discussions of Shakespeare’s plays from a variety of perspectives have been both exhilarating and new, and — even over Zoom — a welcome continuation of pre-pandemic pleasures.
I even wrote a sonnet about it.
Necessity’s a mother, Plato said,
And choices must be made, from best to worst.
So’f all the things to do before you’re dead,
To read the plays of Shakespeare must come first.
Choosing companions correctly’s the key
T’ensure that nary a nuance is missed,
Then pick the order in order that we
Chart growth as we check off this bucket list.
’Tis on the stage where the plays should be seen,
But on the page I discover they sing;
And through discussion and banter I glean
That, of course, the play-by-play is the thing.
What began amidst such trouble and strife,
Surrounded by death, has given me life.
© 2021 Austin Tichenor