Carol Kirkpatrick, possibly the brightest writer I ever met in a writing group (proof positive being her ability to scribble out a pithy, brilliantly crafted story on the spot) had the additional charm of treating me to an oral history of Brooklyn whenever we walked its streets together. Combining warmth, depth, humor, and subtlety well into her 90s, she will always represent perfectly what I’d like to be when I grow up. My hope is to charm you with this sample of her writing:
Negativity
Nattering nabobs of negativism
Gnaw away at live roots
They nibble and dribble and cripple
Till none any longer give hoots
Nattering nabobs of negativism
Have the proclivity
Of killing longevity
