Note: John later incorporated this almost verbatim* into his fifth solo novel, Turtles All The Way Down (Dutton Books, 2017) as words from the protagonist, Aza Holmes’, perspective
The brothers’ related banter…
John: Do you want a short poem for the day? Its a very short poem that was sent in by an anonymous listener actually, ready?
Hank: Oh interesting.
John: Here it is, ready? It’s just a couplet, two lines of iambic pentameter:
(Reads poem)
Hank: Aaah. Mmmm, interesting.
John: Not bad right?
Hank: I like it, I don’t know that I agree.
John: I don’t know, I think the daffodil knows a lot about spring.
Hank: I think you may know more about everything than the daffodil knows about anything.
[John laughing]
John: Well yes that’s probably literally true, that’s a good point.
Hank: I apologize. I feel as if I’ve embarrassed my family with that comment. I feel like Neil DeGrasse Tyson tweeting right now.
[John laughing]
tumblr
Click to read poem
The daffodil knows more of spring
than I will ever know of anything

