The Blue Back Speller

DAVE, 1827

 

A small book it is

but big of heart,

for with Mr. Webster’s

blue book

I am learning to read.

I stare at the pages,

struggling to make sense

of the letters,

until one day

they jump off the page!

 

One-syllable words:

pig,

man,

dog,

horse.

 

Two-syllable words:

Mas-ter,

pot-ter,

Edge-field.

 

I should blow out

the candle,

save the wax,

but I’ve turned

to the long words

that I love best:

mag-nan-i-mous,

sa-gac-i-ty,

se-ver-i-ty.

 

Here is one

I had never heard:

con-cat-e-na-tion.

What does it mean?

“Chains,” Doctor Landrum said,

“a linking together.”

Like the chains of bondage,

the shackles around the legs

of us slaves.

Mr. Webster,

it seems to me

we know each other.