Sneeze

Back in ASU - I showed up almost an hour and a half late; I got home, and Barishnakov suggested having a beer with his friend from Spain, which seemed absurdly more interesting than sitting through classes I don't like, am required to take, and which expect absurd amounts of busywork. The professor for my first class is amazing, and nice, so I feel guilty, but it's just not hugely necessary or helpful. I do enjoy it at times, though, and so I wanted to take a moment, and post the freestyle I wrote for class last week.

We were asked to do a freewrite - a writing sneeze, as my professor put it - for three minutes. I, being slightly inebriated, took the cue and chose to spend the time spilling out a quick little rhyme. I found it in my laptop case when I got here this evening, and thought it was kind of nice - so I thought I'd share it. The sneeze was:

"In my class, writing is..."

a pain
a chore
for them, a bore
but every so often, they stop
and realize the words aren't slop
they come easy and fun
and that's when I know the "not done"
chant they yell when I come to take their papers
like an absurdly dressed waiter
is not something said in panic, but with pride
because they broke through and found the writer inside
--ok, so it's not quite as transcendental as that
but still, it's the kid who yesterday wouldn't've sat
who is today glued to his chair
with his nose right at the page there
playing the annoying child game
double-checking to make sure their sentences don't start the same
asking themselves "why" over and over again
while the words tumble and roll from their pen
quiet and determined inside they try
more now, since I told them they bring happy tears from my eyes
and when it happens I love to hold up the page they filled
and praise them in front of the class for the words they spilled

Yup. I thought it was fun. Maybe not, but I thought it was worth sharing.