Another poem for a post.
Conciseness is a lost art form.
Are we just asking them to perform?
Whether it’s spoken or transcribed,
ranting and rambling in a diatribe.
Gone are the days of the one sentence answer.
Causing that answer to spread like a cancer:
prove it,
support it with evidence,
cite it,
with no checklist for guidance.
Do not forget your transitions
and standard English conventions.
Meanwhile analyze with commentary;
try to spell without a dictionary.
End with a conclusion.
They and we are left in a malignant delusion.
A meandering, misdirected ruse
that teachers fisticuff their way on through.
I know it’s part of the territory,
but how did this become mandatory?
But then again,
conciseness is a lost art form
when we ask them to perform,
overshadowed by fancier tricks on the writing food chain.
This poem touches on a topic discussed in a prior blog post, Questions, Prompts, Responses, and Answers.
