January 5, 2022

Tomorrow, faculty return to SMC's campus for pre-semester updates and course preparation.  I wonder if I can ever return to just discussing education.

The Fourth Time

For the fourth time

We start a semester anew,

Needing more time

To discuss how to plow through

Instances of students

Isolated, Quarantined, Sequestered,

The whole fucking thing

A mess that won't go away.

For the fourth time

A focus on purpose or mission

Will be lessened for

More guidance on protocols

And pleas for vaccinations

To a group that should 

Be most prone to the wisdom

That comes from an education.

For the fourth time

We zoom from the macrocosm

To the microcosm

To participants in the dark,

Blurred around the edges, 

Or photoshopped by landmarks,

Buried under doggies,

Half-dressed for the occasion.

For the fourth time

We'll have to remind to mute,

Leave more time for response,

Or to sort through multiple talkers,

The loss of room-reading

Yet supplanted by practices

That still shouldn't need to be learned

For the fourth time.