Wednesday, May 15, 2013

another goddamned bad haiku ... for the end of another goddamned bad semester

the whiskey on my
breath should make my mood less dim;
this grading was not

easy.  grade grubbing
began immediately.
so did the drinking.

i didn't always
need to drown the chorus.  used
to be that the spring

peepers were the lone
voices signaling the end 
of winter's long term.

now, coming to terms,
with may's new gifts: dealing with
endless whining, threats,

bluffs, tears, deans.  it ends ...
but it lingers like the stink
of a bloated corpse.

ergo, whiskey.  ah.  a
week off before it begins
anew, a fresh batch

of tadpoles new to
this peculiar pond, some time--
perhaps--to detox

from too little sleep,
too much whiskey, too many
choristers, too few

incentives to live--
too much cynicism?--and
knowing full well that

next week, two full, big
rosters of swarming tadpoles
begin the cycle

again. the whirlwind
waltz of a short term may bring
a few surprises,

a princeling writer,
a queen of content, evolved
from mere peeper to

poet in eight short
weeks. it's this potential that
hooks me every time:

this time, it will be
different, princes from frogs ... but
i will not kiss them.

13 comments:

  1. I always love these, Greta! "Whirlwind waltz" is my favorite part of this terrific new entry!



    <><><><><><><>
    PS: Darla? It's not Wednesday without you...

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    1. "a queen of content"

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      I miss Darla today too.

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  2. Hold on like death! Such waltzing is not easy.

    And be glad those tadpoles are not radioactive goldfish:
    http://www.inquisitr.com/647655/radioactive-goldfish-smuggled-into-ohio-nuclear-power-plant/

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  3. Thanks, Hiram. I love your offerings, too. I don't comment as much as I should.

    And Zora, I'm glad you appreciate the reference. That story of the goldfish is truly disturbing, on many levels.

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  4. Ah, Greta; glad to see you made it through the semester with poetry, and even a bit of optimism(!) intact, and that you have a least a sliver of breathing room. At my school, the summer students tend to be generally worse (but with some really good ones, so perhaps more diverse/divergent in terms of work ethic and academic ability, which are often hard to disentangle from each other). May yours be good (or at least less inclined to grubbing/whining/threatening/crying), and may there, indeed, be a few diamonds in the rough among the dross (I think that metaphor may be mixed, but never mind).

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  5. Exquisite. I love the tadpole reference.

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  6. Greta,
    I just typoe'd Great. And clearly my subconscious is on it today.

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  7. Some weeks, I live for a haiku from Greta. You always manage to express what I wish I had words for.

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  8. I look forward to these so much! Thank you, Greta!!!!

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  9. Wonderful! Thank you for sharing--the last stanza is my favorite.

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