Academic Abolitionist Sonnet

Editing Brown Sonnet

Addressing this paper academic/
Re-reading & re-writing ideas/
Illustrates my problems are endemic:/
From the pompous I want the most cheers/

The thesis: “undermined literacy”/
By a bright loyal abolitionist/
Was intellectual apostasy/
Formal language makes Blacks contortionists/

I am like runaway slaves showing off/
With my pompous elevated language/
I want my enemies their hats to doff/
For this approval I am most anxious/

It is no small irony I study/
People from long ago like me/

Suspended in Now

11. Visit principal/
Over our suspended son/
Angry at school, boy/
#haiku

12. Defiance conforms/
To the personalities/
Confined by the rules/
#haiku

13. Supporting your child/
Sometimes means backing his school/
‘Gainst his righteousness/
#haiku

14. Resent procedure/
Of institutional might/
Still we require rules/
#haiku

15. Lines between “Ego”/
& organization’s needs/
Blurred by insecure/
#haiku

16. Rules offer guidelines/
But can be crude instruments/
When Ego’s involved/
#haiku

17. Papers need grading/
Though some students aren’t learning/
No matter the score/
#haiku

18. My Ego’s involved/
My prejudices stirred up/
Obedience rules/
#haiku

19. Accepting the rules/
From both sides of equation/
Will repress* Ego/
#haiku *stifle

20. Life is a blessing/
That is too hot to contain/
In neat containers/
#haiku

21a. Suspended in Now/
We struggle with G_d’s agar/
That keeps us alive/
#haiku

21b. Suspended in Now/
We submit to G_d’s agar/
That keeps us alive/
#haiku

Today’s Feelings

39. Fermenting my fears/
In the twisted still of doubt/
Creates a poison/
#haiku

40. We like to relax/
But respite causes us guilt/
So we criticize/
#haiku

41. I wrote a reply/
To postal correspondence/
Slower than email/
#haiku

42. My fears keep rising/
Inadequacy looms large/
(At least in my head!)/
#haiku

43. She apologized:/
A problematic pattern/
(I never minded)/
#haiku

Grading Black Lit Finals Haiku

Grading Haikus

16. Reading Endlessly/
Final exams showing much/
(Of their distractions)/
#haiku

17. Lectures and readings/
Turned into raw sausages/
Squeezed into Blue-Books/
#haiku

18. Some evade learning/
Like the startled trespassers/
Avoiding the light/
#haiku

19. Then I read a test/
That defiantly points out/
I could have taught more!/
#haiku

20. S/he takes my lectures/
Builds an elegant thesis/
That outshines my own/
#haiku

21. Some students clearly/
Overstand literature/
And have been waiting/
#haiku

22. Harriet Jacobs/
Wrote *Incidents* way back when/
For TH!S young person/
#haiku

23. Race Repression in/
One-Hundred-&-Fifty-Years/
Have not changed at all/
#haiku

24. When Jacobs declared/
“Pity me & pardon me”/
She predicted now/
#haiku

25. Students are still moved/
By prejudice & the truth/
Of so long ago/*
#haiku
*Written so long ere

26. Reading this brilliance/
After seven hundred words/
Of summary: great/
#haiku

27. S/He revives my soul:/
Insight & Understanding/
Validate my work/
#haiku

28. I hope one day you/
See your work validated/
By a students’ thoughts/
#haiku

Metaphysics of Grading

(Thoughts that Grading Inspires)

Life surges forward/
Governed by reality/
That I must accept/
#haiku

http://bit.ly/XGGHfT

42. Existence struggles/
To impose reality/
Upon dreaming souls/
#haiku

42a. Religious practice:/
Ritualized repression/
Of human desire/
#haiku

42b. Religious practice:/
Ritualized repression/
Of our baser selves/
#haiku

43. All the world’s beauty/
Surfeits my ability/
To fully enjoy/
#haiku

44. Amazing beauty/
Perfect pleasure & desire/
Exist within me/
#haiku

45a. Recycled desire/
Borrowed from society/
Causes soul sickness/
#haiku

45b. Recycled desire/
Borrowed from society/
Cannot be sated/
#haiku

46. Recycling bags/
Taking logo’d garbage out/
Thoughts of “need” & “want”/
#haiku
instagr.am/p/TBHIJFp3pc/

47. Life’s limitations/
Give more than they takeaway/
Boundaries give us shape/
#haiku

48. Death’s a tragedy/
That is unavoidable/
But nonetheless sad/
#haiku

Today’s (Not-So) Ruthless Evaluation

1. Contemplating life/
Easy when comfortable/
Still needs to be done/
#haiku

2. I’m taking account/
Of the person that I am/
Fairly ruthlessly/
#haiku

3. Generosity/
With money just a “low B”/
Of the spirit “A”/
#haiku

4. Alas, “high C” for/
Self-improvement Diligence/
I only start strong/
#haiku

5. Socially I get/
High marks because I’m friendly/
“Works well with others”/
#haiku

6. Improving my marks/
In “tolerance:” difficult/
I’m too judgemental/
#haiku

7. I failed “Religion”/
I don’t believe “Man*” knows G_d/
Through ANY set text/
#haiku *huMAN, woMAN: language, like society, is sexist

8. I’m a good teacher/
“Organization” is where/
I could best improve/
#haiku

9. Accepting students/
Is how I’d like to improve/
Those afraid to work/
#haiku

10. Like most people, I’m/
Cursed with Ego and false Pride/
Thinking of myself/
#haiku

11. Other people’s acts/
Don’t reflect on Stafford, though/
Ego says: “they do!”/
#haiku

12. Students fail sometimes/
No matter how hard you try/
Acceptance is key/
#haiku

13. I am powerless/
Over students’ “best” efforts/
Some do fear “trying”/
#haiku

14. I’ll work to finish/
More of my projects today/
Then I will improve/
#haiku

15. I will listen more/
Trying to understand more/
Not “be understood”/
#haiku

16. I’ll accept people/
Who disagree with my thoughts/
& understand why/
#haiku

17. Thank you for thinking/
About who you are today:/
Contemplating life/
#haiku

Fate/Faith #Haikus

20. Another big day/
With important tasks to do/
(like ev’ry other)
#haiku

21. Savor the mundane/
Revel In tribulations/
For it’s all we have/
#haiku

22. We’re alive today/
Here for some special reason/
That needs no knowledge*/
#haiku *understanding (incomplete)

23. The organism/
We are little cells within/
Needs all our actions/
#haiku

24. The complex machine/
We are tiny parts within/
Works better with us/
#haiku

25. Flat tire is the sign/
I was searching heaven for/
Patience is virtue/
#haiku
(@ Icon Enterprises) [pic]: http://4sq.com/QzejWz

Flat tire is the sign/ I was searching heaven for/ patience is virtue/ #haiku (@ Icon Enterprises) [pic]: 4sq.com/QzejWz—
WesternQueensLand (@wqueens7) June 29, 2012

26. I’m climbing my fate/
Pushing more effort up there/
For what I don’t know/
#haiku
(@ New York City) [pic]: http://4sq.com/KHGPRx

I'm climbing my fate/ Pushing more effort up there/ For what I don't know/ #haiku (@ New York City) [pic]: 4sq.com/KHGPRx—
WesternQueensLand (@wqueens7) June 29, 2012

27. Perfect surprises/
Align symmetrically for/
Those who look around/
#haiku
@ Midtown Comics

http://instagr.am/p/MeQLZdJ3td/

Perfect surprises/ Align symmetrically for/ Those who look around/ #haiku @ Midtown Comics instagr.am/p/MeQLZdJ3td/—
WesternQueensLand (@wqueens7) June 29, 2012

*FATE

Autobiography for Class (Draft 2)

Stafford Gregoire

ENG101.1211

Professor Gregoire

30 April 2012

 

the shy[1] rebel

Stafford has always had a strange sense of the world. Even in 1st grade he admired the kid who couldn’t do the normal 1st grade assignment, “naming his parents and grandparents and where they were from.” “Tony” was a kid from down the block and his parents and parents were always around our block. They were from Cambridge, the town we lived in, Stafford could have done the assignment for Tony: “my parents and grandparents are from Cambridge, Massachusetts, just like me,” he should have said in Mrs. Pierce’s 1st grade class. Instead he wet himself in front of the class: “Stafford’s hero!” For some perverse reason, ever since then whenever Stafford encountered a “freak” who couldn’t or wouldn’t “behave normally,” he had a new hero. I think that this is because his parents told him to respect people who stood up for themselves, and never to shame children who refused to conform to the norms of society. Ever since then Stafford has elevated people who refused to conform to society. Personally, I think that he elevates eccentric people to defy conformity and make himself more unique.

As soon as Stafford grew up, he left home. Arrogant, he wanted to make his way in the world on his own as a bicycle messenger. He moved to New York City in 1979, just after the city went bankrupt and was allowed to default by the federal government. The crumbling city was perfect for Stafford because “[t]he small community often tolerates eccentricity. The city, on the contrary, rewards it” (Park, cited in Kidder 307). Like yeast in moist flour or hops in a brewery or a bully on a 3rd world police force, Stafford had found his perfect environment. It is a place where he can live the fantasy The Toronto Star reporter Cheney described as “[l]iving by your own skill and animal cunning, like a gladiator in the Roman amphitheatre, surrounded by fat and decadent citizens” (Cheney A1). Of course, that is a young man’s dream of rebellion. And if you look at most of these imaginary heroes of the street, they prefer to keep these fantasies to themselves. So Stafford lived his fantasy life of an urban warrior.

_____________________________________________________________________

Works Cited

Cheney, P. “Bicycle Couriers in Love with Life on Mean Streets.” Toronto Star, 27 March 1993, A1, A8. Print.

Kidder, Jeffrey. “Appropriating The City: Space, Theory, And Bike Messengers.” Theory & Society 38.3 (2009): 307-328. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 Apr. 2012.

 

 

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[1] passive aggressive

Spring Growth

May Day
Today I will notice people working/
And ignore advertising/

I will celebrate students learning/
& smile at loud cries for attention/

I will do my very best to help/
& not judge those who don’t/

I will satisfy only my needs/
& observe the “wants” needy cries/

I will do my job diligently/
So I can help the world improve/

I will not notice when I find others’ faults/
& try to see assets & motives/

If my outlook changes anything/
It is the entire world that will improve/

You may not notice it out-there in the world/
But you can transform the world in your HEART/

~Stafford

Executing Assignment

I agreed to write/
The assignment I gave class/
I will stage it here/
#haiku