The Innisfree Poetry Journal

www.innisfreepoetry.org

by Brian P. Katz

ACADEMIC POOL

Did I tell you? I am qualified.
They’ll put me on a list, circulate it,
and when somebody is looking for something
I may get a letter asking me to apply
with no guarantee, nor sigh, nor nod.
They call it a “pool” because we’re swimming--
not all together, there are many races--
and when we get out of the slow lane
we sunbathe then jump into the faster one,
and they keep dumping ‘em in until we don’t fit.
Now, I’ve been counting workers in my sleep
and I stand on the shoulders of deans
who laugh at the perversions of breast strokes.


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