Epic poetry seems a bygone tradition in these modern times. Don't tell Karla K. Morton, however, or she might unleash a fearsome fate on your head.

For Karla has the power of words on her side, and like a bard of old she has a story to tell. The story, titled Wee Cowrin' Timorous Beastie, draws its name from the Bard of Scotland himself, Robert Burns, and this original poem of a Scottish pirate and his lady love smacks of ancient gatherings and stories told over a tankard of ale and a groaning table.

She recites her story as well as she writes, and with Howard Baer providing a delightful musical soundtrack -- wrapped around a few traditional fragments of tunes -- this is a CD worth playing and playing again. Baer's music and the musicians performing it are so good the soundtrack would stand comfortably on its own even without Karla's recitation to accompany it.

So build up the fire on a cold or stormy night, wrap the children in a blanket and your fingers around a mug, and listen to the lyrical lilt of Karla's voice as she creates magic in sound.