A Professor's Week / Weak
narrative structure
mise-en-abîme; a new term
stories in stories
energy draining anger inducing, naught but
plagiarism here
essays and essays
glimpses into students' minds
jumbled nothingness
possible to care
too much? when I cry in class
and they don't react
stretch dough till see-through
carefully roll into log
burned out, stretched too thin
tick tick tick tick
I wait in studio for
students who never come (total of 17 syllables)
student: look over?
prof: what in particular?
just in general
we're here to instruct -
not to edit or assess.
oh, never mind then
picture flickers green
swaying movement dizzying
seasick 'net teaching
sun pushes out of
darkened cradle, at work, still
too early for light
These haiku are part of the October 2019 Haiku Challenge, which I completed in early November. This series is about my encounters as a professor at a local college. October is generally a depressing month for me as students in my Composition I class start to learn what plagiarism is and as my workload increases. Most of my writing during this month is depressing.
The seventh and eighth haiku in this series are meant to be one poem. Sometimes 17 syllables is not enough and I need another 17 to complete the poem.