As a teenager I wrote poems and stories; as a librarian annotated lists, puppet shows, departmental reports, and press releases; as a doctoral student, a dissertation full of multiple regression analyses guaranteed to block poetic impulses. As a faculty member I wrote lecture notes and lesson plans, conference presentations and mission statements, letters of recommendation and notes on student papers, journal articles and a couple of scholarly books and too many accreditation reports. They called me a wordsmith. It was meant for praise. In retirement I've written nonfiction for young readers, committee minutes, bylaws -- and poems. Maybe.