Poetry+-+May+12


 * Did I Miss Anything?**

//Tom Wayman//

Nothing. When we realized you weren’t here we sat with our hands folded on our desks in silence, for the full two hours

Everything. I gave an exam worth 40 percent of the grade for this term and assigned some reading due today on which I’m about to hand out a quiz worth 50 percent

Nothing. None of the content of this course has value or meaning Take as many days off as you like: any activities we undertake as a class I assure you will not matter either to you or me and are without purpose

Everything. A few minutes after we began last time a shaft of light suddenly descended and an angel or other heavenly being appeared and revealed to us what each woman or man must do to attain divine wisdom in this life and the hereafter This is the last time the class will meet before we disperse to bring the good news to all people on earth.

Nothing. When you are not present how could something significant occur?

Everything. Contained in this classroom is a microcosm of human experience assembled for you to query and examine and ponder This is not the only place such an opportunity has been gathered

but it was one place

And you weren’t here

Alexander Mitchell: The poem is about a teacher giving a student a lecture about his absence and apathy about a class. The teacher seems to be fed up and angered by the student's ignorance, and tells the student that a test worth fifty percent of their grade is going to be handed out. Suggesting that the person skipped class and ignored all valued information. The narrator is the teacher/ professor of the class. The tone of the poem seems to be angry. The language used in the poem describes how angered the teacher is, and shows that he is trying to show the student the consequences of their actions.