I asked a number of friends to help me with this 17-syllable exercise, and since more people responded than I imagined might, I’m happy to throw everybody into one batch. I hope you’ll consider adding your own.
Wake with teeth grinding
Broken printers in my dreams
Is it fall term yet?
…
Wonderfully does
The cheating kid sit beside
The foreign student.
…
Capture my fresh thought
Embrace the joy of learning
Oops! There is no place to park.
…
Why teach before dawn?
The schedule I have now
Might kill me outright.
…
Happy instructor!
Brilliant students come to learn!
Brooklyn Bridge for Sale!
…
Cynical teachers
Make empty nests of classrooms
No one fills the blanks.
…
See the patient desk
Where no writer sits today.
Teaching interferes.
…
My boyfriend is back
But my new colleague is cute.
Fulbright time again?
…
Yesterday’s lessons
Drawn from your grad school notebooks
Will not work today.
…
How can we have lunch?
I teach five classes a day.
Remember? Adjunct!
…
Anybody here?
A fly buzzes in reply.
Wrong room once again.
…
Professor X smells
Of Axe spray and baby poop.
Contradictory.
…
Canadian schools
Give faculty more support.
Count your blessings, eh?
…
No, you can’t get in.
The class is already full.
Yeah, well, tell it to the Dean.
…
Library closes
When you most need to go in.
You buy a Kindle.
…
Fine colleague retires.
Her absence makes you wonder:
Have you allies left?
…
See the pretty girl!
She is way too young for you.
Better believe it.
…
Twenty years teaching
And still no health insurance.
Too late for law school?
…
Submit the novel
Wait for the agent’s reply.
Is this a way out?
…
Turn your laptop off
And watch the sun cross the sky
Time has no cursor.
…………..
20 Responses to Haiku U.: Short Takes on the New Semester
pkballhaus - August 19, 2010 at 11:27 am
Read my first draftAnd tell me I do not have tomake any changes
pkballhaus - August 19, 2010 at 11:27 am
Okay read my second draft and tell me whyit is now perfect
dtemkin - August 19, 2010 at 1:11 pm
But I made all the changes you told me to; why is it still C-?
deanette - August 19, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Paper or plastic?Would you like some fries with that?I am a poet.
deanette - August 19, 2010 at 10:00 pm
See here and see nowI make my point for all,see?It is all a joke.
deanette - August 19, 2010 at 10:01 pm
One more, just for us:Who knows why we write, okay?Just put the words down.
realtyannie - August 20, 2010 at 5:26 am
Earn a free Master’sWhile teaching a few classes.Then get a real job.
n2n_0131 - August 20, 2010 at 12:40 pm
Win the lotteryQuit the crazy rat raceAnother pipe dream
n2n_0131 - August 20, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Summers for writing?Not for administratorsWe are always here
dank48 - August 20, 2010 at 1:04 pm
First, five syllables,Then seven, then five again.Can’t you freaking count?
dank48 - August 20, 2010 at 1:07 pm
This haiku that addsUp properly still remainsDevoid of significance.
dank48 - August 20, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Discipline is hard.All those books I’ve still not read:Adios, Summer.
drdonp - August 20, 2010 at 1:35 pm
P nine-elevenProf is coming towards me PCM later
dpn33 - August 20, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Now texting in classReplaces passing of notes.someone text me, too?
crankycat - August 20, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Ah, September breeze,Professorial murmurs;Smell the paperwork.
deanette - August 20, 2010 at 10:07 pm
See how I am nowon this late night drinking bingeWhy am I writing?
deanette - August 20, 2010 at 10:08 pm
It is not so lateMy friend says it is okaywhich means we may laugh.
deanette - August 20, 2010 at 10:10 pm
Together we writeYou don’t know his name or mineWhich means we are free.
jobi33 - August 22, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Lots of my colleaguesSeem unhappy at their jobs.Tell me this is new.
wilkenslibrary - August 24, 2010 at 3:25 pm
Astonishment masked.”What is that?” “It’s my sonnetIn good haiku form.”