'An Ode to Marking'

Now, I confess that I am no poet, but as the mountainous pile of assignments begins to overwhelm me, I felt the need to release and talk back to those nasty writer's notebooks, writing projects and folio drafts.

Anyway, here it is.  It has made me feel better for writing it!

‘An ode to marking’

I know you mock me.

You, you white sheets of purity,

You think you are so saintly.

But no, you are tainted.

Marked with blackness,

With your insipid romances

And melodramatic tragedies,

Your violence and your wars.

No, you are not pure or perfect.

Are you oblivious to your mistakes?

You are riddled with the diseases

Of poor grammar

And punctuation errors

And words that don’t make sense

Or sound just plain lame.

Do you think that you are everything?

That I have no other life?

Well, I do.  I have a LIFE.

A life that is my family, my garden,

A house to keep, and books to read.

Do you not think I deserve to sleep?

Or to eat? 

Maybe even watch a tv program, or a movie

Just once in a while ….

I know you do not care for any of that.

You just demand and consume me,

Trying to destroy me.

Well, you won’t.

I will have my life, and you can wait.

So next time you mutter

About deadlines and results,

Just remember:  I have a LIFE!