Lackadaisicality

I'm writing a poem,
thinking how fun
it will be to think later,

I wrote this poem
because I was bored
during my class about poetry.

Actually, I'm sitting in
my college hour on genetics.

Actually, Gregor Mendel
didn't even go to college.

Actually, I'm only sit-
ting here because of in-class work.

Actually, my new favorite
pastime in class, actually,

Is actually poetry.

Maybe I should become a monk
and spend my time with gardening.

Maybe I could grow garden peas --
or package custom popsicles!

Or maybe I should just pay a-
ttention.

That's actually the right an-
swer,

actually.

American Lit

Droning speech floats across
the table to the pane
and back again, swimming
past shelves and shelves of books
about reading.

Fingers peck letters -- up
and down and down and right,
left-up, and diagon-
al, filling emails and
essays and notes.

"We've got assonance," he
says. "Shape, shade, shirt," he ex-
plains why and how Pinsky
described his button-up
with Koreans.

He chuckles at cuteness
while I scribble about
learning about writing
on the back of my per-
fected poems quiz.