(Inspired by The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer)
A Trip to Trinity
By Lindsey Plemmons
Our story begins in the town of Dublin,
Where we find our ten characters all a shufflin’.
The tour bus to the library has arrived,
And all of the passengers pack inside.
To the Trinity College Library they all will go.
Oh what wonders they will bestow!
These unlikely passengers have gathered together,
And are soon all seated on seats of leather.
Although they are all somewhat different,
They’ve come to Dublin with a similar interest.
The library holds many wonders unknown,
And all of their minds will surely be blown.
The tiny tour bus is packed nice and tight,
As the passengers prepare for an interesting sight.
Sitting near the front is a high class scholar,
An educated man who will do anything for a dollar.
Dr. Hinkle is this man’s professional title,
But to friends and family he goes by Michael.
He’s snooty and rude and strives for attention.
He’ll do whatever it takes just to get mentioned.
Back home he is known for his awards and his trophies,
But to be quite honest he is awfully lonely.
Not many people like him because he’s so rude,
This constantly puts him in a very bad mood.
Although he is educated and smart as can be,
His stone cold hard is absent of all glee.
His journey has brought him to Ireland because
He wants to gain knowledge to earn more applause.
Across the row from our snooty scholar,
Sits a young Irish enthusiast named Dr. Strahler.
She has recently graduated with a major in Irish Studies,
And now she is traveling to further her discoveries.
She seeks neither fortune nor fame,
And does not really care about broadcasting her name.
All she truly cares about is furthering her studies.
She never really wants to brag to her buddies.
To visit this library was her biggest goal.
She felt as though this trip would make her whole.
Her excitement is evident in the way that she smiles.
Her heart is joyous like that of a child’s.
To grow in her knowledge is all that she wanted.
She does not believe that her wisdom should be flaunted.
Sitting behind Dr. Strahler is Professor Peek.
His personality is dreadfully bleak.
As a professor at Mars Hill University,
He teaches a course on cultural diversity.
His students find him very bland and boring.
He constantly gets on to them for their snoring.
In class all he does is drone on and on,
His students will agree that he’s not very fun.
Like Hinkle and Strahler, he’s come to gain knowledge.
He wants to be a better teacher at the college.
Knowledge, however, will not fix his style.
His students will never find him to be worthwhile.
Although he is a teacher, he’s not very good.
What good is a teacher if you can’t be understood?
Near the middle of the bus sits a girl with red hair.
Her eyes are dark blue and her skin is quite fair.
Oversized glasses sit upon her freckled nose.
Her sparkly flip-flops reveal her pink painted toes.
She claims to be a nerd, who loves to read books,
But all she really cares about is having good looks.
Her name is Christina; she’s cute as can be,
But reading is not her specialty.
Not once has she read a book cover to cover.
Yet, she likes to pretend that she is a book lover.
The glasses she wears do not have real lenses.
She only wears them to attract more attention.
Why has she come to Dublin, you may wonder?
She was invited to go by her book nerdy mother.
Sitting next to Christina is her mother Alexis,
Who is reading a book on her bright green Nexus.
She’s a booklover at heart who loves to read.
If she could, she would, read in her sleep.
The lenses in her glasses are real as can be,
For if she didn’t have them, then she could not see.
The sweater she wears is plain and gray;
Her hair is pinned up with lots of hair spray.
The glasses she wears are simple and sleek,
Not like her daughter’s, the “wannabe geek”.
She invited her daughter to go on this trip
In hopes of giving her a small little hint
Of what it truly means to be in love with books,
And that life is not just about a person’s good looks.
One row over from our friend and her daughter,
Sits Ms. Brach, the librarian, sipping her water.
Similar to Alexis, she is reading a book.
She’ll read anything that has a good hook.
Recently widowed, she wanted to get away;
She’s hoping that this trip will take the pain away.
A simple woman of about sixty years old,
She hopes to find books with stories untold.
She sits alone for she is quite shy.
She would rather read than tell a stranger hi.
Her eyes are dark brown and her hair has turned to gray,
But nothing can take her sense of adventure away.
This trip to Trinity has been her life’s dream,
And her happiness is evident in the way her smile beams.
Sitting in the back, away from the others,
Is a handsome, healthy and insanely happy couple.
With their arms interlocked and their fingers intertwined,
This cute little couple is annoying mankind.
They kiss, they coddle, and their baby talk is overused.
Their public displays of affection can be considered quite rude.
However, their behavior can only be deemed fair
For they were just married and love is in the air.
Mr. Malory is a construction worker who builds nice homes;
Too bad he cannot afford to actually live in one.
Mrs. Mallory is a hairdresser at a beauty salon
But her paycheck isn’t enough for her to live on.
Together they gathered every penny they had
To take this trip, but their savings were quite sad.
So they rallied up their friends for sympathy and cash,
And soon they had built up quite a large stash.
So here they are together on their honeymoon in Ireland,
While Mrs. Malory sports her teeny, tiny diamond.
Giving them a funny look while glancing down the row,
Marcus Mann turns his head to avoid their show.
A man of twenty-five, he’s living day to day
Because his “career” is currently on delay.
An artist he is, or so he believes,
His art can be quite difficult to perceive.
He sells his art to people on the streets
And hopes one day to be a part of the elites.
Although he is not very good, he believes he is great,
And thinks that he is following his fate.
He has come to Dublin with one simple goal;
He hopes that this trip will help make him whole.
His grandfather Sheldon has invited him along,
And he hopes that he’ll find a place to belong.
Grandfather Sheldon is clever as can be,
But he didn’t finish school past the age of three.
From a poor family, he was born and raised,
But his wisdom and wit are something to be praised.
His luck was changed when he entered a contest.
He gave the answer to a simple request.
A trip he was awarded to the town of Dublin,
This experience overall had been quite humblin’.
He decided to invite his grandson along,
Because he never got to see him, so what could go wrong?
He was exited for this trip because he had never been
Out of his own country with neither family nor friends.
So together they all went on this tour bus to Trinity,
Oh what wonderful sights they all soon shall see.
lindztheging 