[New-Poetry] Re: Categories of Fish

[jforjames at aol.com]

I like the quirkiness of Hal's poem. Sort in the vein of some of James Tate's poems.

The end reminded of a sad figure who I knew slighty many years ago while in St. Louis.
He was a 'PHd candidate in English'; only he really wasn't taking classes or doing his
disertation...he was just sort of hanging around the school, showing up at 
various readings and seminars, but not really part of the program any more.
It seemed like he had some?mental issues...but nothing that would trouble the academic?milieu.
Other students and faculty mostly ignored him or politely tolerated his being around.
If you wore the right kind of blazer and you stood against the oaken walls of the 
seminar room, you could be pretty much invisible.
Finnegan

-----Original Message-----
From: David Graham <grahamd at ripon.edu>
Bcc: jforjames at aol.com
Sent: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 1:01 pm
Subject: [New-Poetry] Re: Categories of Fish









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 &amp;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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