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Istockphoto.com/leafedge
A field exuberantly growing
careers that will be harvested?
Or does that promised carrot
just glimmer on some hope-filled pond?
Veggie or algae?
ii
Look -- so many universities
dangle that carrot
to feed their hunger for applicants,
to plump their thinning budgets,
to fool those who dream of lives in academe.
And yes, to fuel their hard driving faculty:
“My list of dissertators is bigger than your list.”
Thus the egos
of faculty infectious with
puffy ambition
swell and redden,
bloated and boasting.
And thus they proudly brand
would-be careers with few buyers
in our heartless markets.
iii
But don’t forget the farmers
who take their work to heart:
plowing through dissertation chapters,
planting true seeds but not false hopes
with grad students they learn from and with.
And how about the programs that attempt
to diversify by rotating crops --
Professor? But maybe arts administrator, technical writer, editor.. . .
Are these new carrots wholesome food?
Can this new menu sustain and be sustained?
