It's the end of the semester. The last essay is due
to me, professor. He, student, misses the final class
and struggles to my office afterwards. He stands
in the doorway, exhausted, and tells me his dream:
"Somehow you'd gotten hold of my essay
before I wanted to turn it in. You assigned
it a grade of the square-root of A. Your
only comment was Very suburban. Then I
stole back the essay before you had
recorded the grade. I put an A in
the online grading system, next to my name,
and then I watched as the essay
revised itself, prose metamorphosis."
"I'll be darned," I say. He gives me
the essay. I look at it. "Well," I say,
"you'd better put your name on it"
hans ostrom 2017
to me, professor. He, student, misses the final class
and struggles to my office afterwards. He stands
in the doorway, exhausted, and tells me his dream:
"Somehow you'd gotten hold of my essay
before I wanted to turn it in. You assigned
it a grade of the square-root of A. Your
only comment was Very suburban. Then I
stole back the essay before you had
recorded the grade. I put an A in
the online grading system, next to my name,
and then I watched as the essay
revised itself, prose metamorphosis."
"I'll be darned," I say. He gives me
the essay. I look at it. "Well," I say,
"you'd better put your name on it"
hans ostrom 2017
