Beyond Goodies & Weasels

    



 




Some of my worst students are my best.
 
Sounds contradictory but it happens with
language. Bend it  like Beckham.  Got
to be talking out of 3 sides of my mouth:.
the kind of  foolish inconsistency that
hob goblins brittle minds. 
 
Any one with a lifetime in a classroom
eventually  grows affection for the slacker,
sleeping thru lectures, rising  to pee when
I’m most profound.  Late, of course, with
class and work   Questions authorization.
 
Rebel without a because.  Bubba with no
regard for party permits. Jitterbug multi-
tasker who comes to fix my computer
while I  mutter privileged grad-school
information  about Hawthorne’s houses
and hidden treasures.
 
("It’ll be on the test!" keeps me in control.)
 
“The road of excess leads to the palace of
 wisdom” and “if a fool persist in his folly,
 he becomes wise”  says Blake, marrying
heaven and hello!

Nevertheless I retard, block, constrain, shape
& structure persistence in the name of love
so that folly’s attenuated and wisdom
shrivels like reason in the sun,
dreams deferred.
 
Time management, 
handbooks & pre-REQS.
regulations, dead lines,
syllabi-a-um, popping  pills
& wellness  advice, herbs
and academic massage,
early warning intervention:
our anti-folly  devices.  
 
The  conscientious conform & write first- person
pronouns with small i’s &  circle-dots and the
baddies get probation and instruction to
sign-up for counseling. 
Who gains more?.
 
No, seriously!
 
Who would you rather hang with?
Take  a road trip with?
Sandra Bullock or Jesse James?
 
No, seriously. 
 
Talking holism here,
not your “damned  moral sense.”
 
I say  pox on Good & Evil if not  beyond, 
but put a grade-gun to my head & make
me choose: a  weasel’s as  good as a
goodie if  not better for stalwart
pioneering & frontiers yet unknown
assuming one aims  to get smart & smarter
& don’t mind cherishing attention deficiencies.
 
"An enemy's as good as a buddha."
"If you see the Buddha on the road:
kill him."

My worst students are often the best. Closest
to the “kingdom” the Palace of Wisdom if
they persist in their folly & withstand the
goodies.

But it’s hard.
It’s a hard reign. .

xxxooo, Presbyter