When My Mother Left Her Second Husband,

I Had No Idea Where These Kids At A Small Private College In The San Fernando Valley Were Coming From, Why They Were Coming To Hear Me, Or What They Needed To Know.

I Tended To Emphasize The Secular, The Casual, The Colloquial, The Vernacular Against The Sacred.

I Learned Enough Hebrew To Stagger Through A Meaningless Ceremony That I Scarcely Remember.

I Can Manage A Prose Format As Long As I Keep Closer To Laurence Sterne Than To Henry James.

There Are Editing Procedures For Talks Just As There Are Editing Procedures In Jazz Improvisation.