Kenny Lerner, Peter Cook, and Jim go back to their time in Rochester all together in the early 1980s at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. They all came of age around the same time and spent a lot of time together. Professionally, Peter and Kenny are known as Flying Words Project. They perform their original poetry in American Sign Language and American Spoken Verse around the world. Susannah Carleton, Jim's ex, with whom he raises their daughter, Isabella, asked Peter and Kenny if they might be able to send a poem for a little collection she was gathering into a book for Jim's 60th birthday. This is what they did.