Looking Thirsty

The new school year has arrived. I am always surprised at the beginning of the semester to see how thirsty for knowledge the students seem. Usually it wears off by mid-semester. By that time their thirst has been slaked. It becomes more akin to Dumbledore drinking the Potion of Despair by the end of the semester… I’m teaching a class again this semester. In the past the class size was limited to a maximum of 8 students. This time around there are 10 enrolled. When I teach a class I have to be careful not to drink anything at lunch. That is because there isn’t time for potty breaks. So as thirsty as the students seem, I’m always pretty sure I’m thirstier! And like Harry Potter I’m going to be forcing them to drink even when they seem to have had their fill. Hopefully they won’t burn out, dry up, or drown… pick your metaphor!

“Give me water”
Dumbledore begs Harry Potter
Splashing like an otter
Neck deep in liquid learning

For knowledge burning
The student on fire yearning
Until burned he’s turning
At final exam dismay

It’s too late to run away
This is the piper’s payday
Put your smarts on display
Write the answers on paper

Panic as thoughts turn to vapor
Cheater revealed a faker
A bottom of the barrel scraper
Check a box – make a guess

Future graduation success
Employment opportunity distress
Alumni card repossess
Life flashes before sad eyes

A dream’s sudden demise
Storms gather in the mind’s skies
A down pour threatens to capsize
The psyche in salty tears

This poem is written as a Vers Beaucoup, a poetry form created by Curt Mongold. It means ‘many rhymes’ because each stanza of 4 lines has a rhyme scheme of a-a-a-b and the stanzas are interlocking since the first 3 lines continue the rhyme of the last line of the preceding stanza. Thus the stanza should look like this: a-a-a-b, b-b-b-c, c-c-c-d, etc.