His in-laws bought him the
guitar when he graduated from
graduate school but he had
been playing on an old beat-
up instrument since he was
seventeen. He was twenty-
five when he got it and
seventy when he gave it
up. He took it into a guitar
shop and said, “If a left-
hander comes in looking for
a guitar, just give that per-
son this one, okay?” “Okay,
It’s a deal.” “Who knows?
It could be another Paul
McCartney in the making.”
He went home and wrote
a poem about it.