[New-Poetry] Re: Categories of Fish

[David Graham]

On Dec 10, 2007, at 11:52 AM, Skip Fox wrote:
> After 29+ years of university teaching, this was bound to
> rung clearly in my ears as well. Would that it were written
> while listening to a long excuse for a half semester's
> absences.
-------------------

Sure enough.  Roethke's quip about teaching is one I've often thought  
of, especially during final exams:  "lugging pork up Parnassus," he  
called it.

I will admit, though, that the concluding lines of Hal's poem  
conjured in my mind a different figure than the flaky student.   
Personally I've been teaching since Jimmy Carter was President, and  
in all that time of hanging out in schools have never wandered off on  
my own. . . .




>> Then, there are those that hang out in schools,
>> never wandering off on their own,
>>
>> never graduating, taking a degree,
>> or even declaring a major.
>>


========================================
David Graham
grahamd at ripon.edu

Home Page:
http://web.mac.com/drjazz/iWeb/Site/About%20Me.html

Poetry Library:
http://web.mac.com/drjazz/iWeb/Site/DGPoLibrary.html
==========================================



On Dec 10, 2007, at 11:52 AM, Skip Fox wrote:

> After 29+ years of university teaching, this was bound to
> rung clearly in my ears as well. Would that it were written
> while listening to a long excuse for a half semester's
> absences.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu
> [mailto:new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu] On Behalf Of TheOldMole
> Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2007 8:41 PM
> To: NewPoetry: Contemporary Poetry News &Views
> Subject: Re: [New-Poetry] Categories of Fish
>
> I love this one.
>
> Halvard Johnson wrote:
>> Categories of Fish
>>
>> First, there are the kind that we like to eat,
>> the ones with fins and silvery scales.
>>
>> Then, there are those who walk upright
>> in the evenings. Almost.
>>
>> Then come those who walk backwards
>> until someone tells them not to.
>>
>> There are fish that feed millions from a single
>> basket, a meal that suffices for weeks, even months.
>>
>> Then, there are those that hang out in schools,
>> never wandering off on their own,
>>
>> never graduating, taking a degree,
>> or even declaring a major.
>>
>>
>> Hal
>>
>> Halvard Johnson
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