Love/Hate Letter

Dear Student(s),


Thank you for taking the time to fill out this course evaluation form. Since most of you did not bother to take the survey, this letter is strictly intended for those who chose to proffer feedback.

After reading these evaluation comments, I feel that you simply treat this as an opportunity to express both your disdain and your respect toward me. Instead of critical constructive criticism, I am left with a personality profile that would make a multiple personality disordered individual look positively normal. My job is to push you. I will push you out of your circumstances and out of your comfort zones, and because of this; I am both maligned and adored. No matter – my skin is so callused, it is almost impenetrable.

This isn’t supposed to be an easy or comfortable process for either of us. If it were; well, I’d be wasting your time and your money, not to mention stunting my own growth as an instructor. Unlike some of the teachers you’ve had in the past, I take my job seriously, and yes, I care. And, I will continue to care more than you’ll ever realize. Remember, I am a human being and, amazingly, have feelings too. After reading these assessments, I walk away feeling the accolades and the worthlessness simultaneously. Above all else, consider this: I didn’t give you the final grade; you earned it.

Earnestly,

Emily

Kilarney Beach - Bay City, MI

The fog is hanging outside the big

Bay window as if it thinks it is canvas,

And I am blind.

This house built behind a rusty

Seawall smells of a brandy brown

Dependence and grandma’s White Linen.

A scent I will later wear, but

She doesn’t know that now.



The storm is forming cannon

Blasts of warm fishy yellowness,

And I want to run from the waves

Which grow – and intensify their

Thrashing on the old seawall.



She has started the dishwasher,

So the room is one big roaring rush

Of swishes perforated with talk of sleep.

I am tired,

But the storm is alive and the smokestacks

Across the bay are blinking at me

Through a small slice in the fog.



They are waiting for me to join them

In the gigantic grey.