Return to History
“The Chair of Fred’s University’s embattled History Department will retire early.”
—School News Today
When I’m dead
I’ll enjoy
Coming back
To see what
You have done
With the place
The old cloth
Communal
Towel roll
Had to go
You said it
Was so gross
I don’t know
Why you did
Not replace
The carpet
Someone peed
On last year
You tore down
The divider
Between the
Graduate
Lounge and
Reception
Now you can
Hear Students
Scheming for
Fair wages
And other
Outrages
You gave my
Japanese
Teapot to
Goodwill no
One drinks tea
Together
In the new
History
Department
It’s takeout
Coffee from
Paper cups
I am not
Sentimental
For the bad
Old days that
Never were
What they said
I kept
A cartoon
Of myself
Taped in the
Inner wall of
The hall closet
It showed
A dancing
Devil, me,
The day I
Made tenure
Laughing at
Myself for
Cheating fate
A gift from
Old students
Who are all
Lawyers now
There was gin
Hidden in
The closet
With Wite-Out
Letterhead
Carbon paper
And other
Artifacts
Of things we
Used to
Think were for
Forever
Soon tenure
Won’t exist
Neither will
Stationary
Or the study
Of the past
It outlived
Me but it
Won’t survive
You. Soon this
Will all be
Gone to STEM
I handed
You a branch
And it broke
Your sad ugly
Renovations
Will not last
Ticky Kennedy
Reclusive Poet in Residence
SchoolNewsToday.com
NOTE
“Despite misconceptions, studies have shown that drying hands with a towel can be more effective than paper and air dryer alternatives and that cotton roll towels are a more hygienic choice for hand drying in the workplace,” according to a Hjelt Institute of Hygiene and Microbiology study.
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