3
In college
They used to hand out questionnaires
To rate the teacher’s teaching ability
Rate your teacher according to the following phrase:
“The teaching was effective.”
1, strongly disagree, 2, disagree, 3, no opinion,
(You have the opinion you have no opinion),
4, agree, 5, strongly agree
Invariably, I wrote “zero” in margins and handed it in
Because most of them were afraid to teach
Most of them were so worried about losing their jobs
They took no risks to speak of of any worth
I find no worth in such petty devices
But I wish to hell that women would listen to me
Or at very least take performance reviews.
“The love was effective.”
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
And in the margins, where they ask for additional comments
You will find
My last 1,700 poems