I WAS A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD PLAGIARIST
Circling
around a memory of flat-out reading the inside
Dust
jacket aloud for an oral book report without
Bothering
to hide the fact I wasn’t trying to
Grow
my seven-year-old words by re-telling a foreign
Story,
breaking it down into character, plot and moral
Copied
out the text through the loud clear plastic
Stumbled
a second too long over the word TSAR
An
amateur moment no teacher ever
Forgave
Prove
capable of wifery
Childbearing
is the oldest authority
You
should put your money in my purse
A
proposal
I.
All my eggs are
in this basket, no need to read on
II.
Careful, the
plate is hot
III.
Method, theories,
how I roll
IV.
Expected
findings: is that a quarter behind your ear?
V.
Everyone I’ve
ever heard of but never really read
Formatted
It’s
OK. We believe in you, we want you. That’s why
You’re
here.
We
long for your genes.
Compare and contrast
on company letterhead
Your collegiality and
a head of lettuce
For every syllabus
Terms of Service spelled out
Copy the plagiarism
policy from the student handbook
Of the university
under-employing you at the moment
Audiotape the
role-play
You’ll never get to
Italy or Flanders
Be original or fail.
Repeat
Be close to original
but not too
Yes-or-no answers are
key to building opinion
But only when the
student keeps talking
For a minimum of
three minutes
If her opinion is
ungrounded, she must not be allowed to Lapse into silence
As Francis I, write a
letter to Leonardo da Vinci
Asking him to retire
in France
Discuss your bikini
tan at tenure-and-promotion meetings
List all the
inferiors in love with you
Reenact kingly
gestures
She can forge an archival
source because she has no
Currency
hi ms this is with A T I a crass your retirement company I was just
following up on the conversation you had with my colleague a few days ago I
know that he had emailed you out some letters church to set up a new I a Ray
and to roll over and old account into the irate as a enrollment rollover
specialist here in the financial solutions group on the fine to you to help you
to make that process is easy as possible again that's morsey poor not with T I
A Crap thanks so much I look forward to speaking with you
Wait until you enter
The precise organs of
reproduction
Do stay in the
probationary vestibule until your DNA maps
The discipline
We’ll
make new things incested with thumbprints
Don’t
worry
Just
grind your teeth
For
fifteen minutes a day between milkings
Whenever
you get a little space to piss
It’s
best not to eat much during the day and
Wait
till the sun goes down to begin grazing
Finish
the entire contents of the pantry by midnight
If
you do it everyday
You’ll
get it down to where it needs to be
You’ll
have to find possums to bring ice baths
On
the half-hour to soak your feet
So
you can eat skullcap slowly into the night
They’ll
have to learn to decipher your mush-mouth
Read
the following excerpt and answer person re
Fuses
that person mis
Places
that person for
Gets
that person politely de
Clines
that person passes that person sur
Mises
that person misuses that person bull
Shits
that person drops that person sees
Right
through that the student needs to read
Without
moving her lips
Letters
by people rich enough to write
Role-play the reunion
of art students in 1500
One returned from
Italy and the other from Flanders
Early twenty-first
century idiom expected
So messed up I want you here
In my room I want you here
Now we're gonna be face-to-face
And I'll lay right down in my
favorite place
And now I wanna be
Eaten by the Igorots at St. Louis.
Now I wanna be
Eaten by the Igorots at St. Louis.
Now I wanna be
Eaten by the Igorots at St. Louis.
Well c'mon
Other women live only
as foils and shopping buddies
Don’t forget to
divorce
Kimberly Alidio is a teacher, historian and poet. She runs a small poetry salon and a weekly art-making session, Writing with Viewpoints, in Austin, TX. www.kimberlyalidio.tumblr.com
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