Contribution To A Tribute's Quandary ('san Francisco: It's The Other Side Of Heaven! ') Poem by Greg Bell

My maiden voyage as William Shakespeare was @ the Ben Jonson Restaurant, on the wharf in San Francisco, where I was hired as co-host, Ben Jonson (ca 1980.) This is a duty I shared with Michael Caweltie, but one which proved to be problematic when he descended the staircase as I regaled people from a table-top in the bar. 'Ben, ' sez I. 'Ben, ' he replies.
Afterwards, Michael, opined that I would make a fitting Shakespeare, as he gently pointed out my receding hairline. I could nothing do but agree...
This sonnet is the first I ever wrote, on a dare from the publisher of San Francisco Magazine, whom I met there, as I retrieve the dimming recollection. He'd commented about SF: 'It's the other side of heaven.' Well, I mostly agreed, but I confessed I found the prospect problematic, but that I'd address it in a sonnet I would write on the subject. 'Yes, ' sez he, 'and I will publish it! ' Well, then I just had to do it!

Excerpt fro 'Looking for Will: My Bardic Quest with Shakespeare' Ion Drive Publishing.