Reading Fisher Again

We’re reading

Fisher again

Sexist, homophobic

Harmful

Meaningful

Lousy fucking Fisher

Fisher, Fisher, Fisher

We’re reading

Fisher again

Not to say again as though

I’ve read it before

Because I certainly haven’t

But again as in—

People

Are Reading

Fisher again

People are being made

To read Fisher

Again

Do you believe it?

Do you fucking believe it?

And not even interesting Fisher

Not even the racist stuff

That almost seems to be making a commentary
On racism

But really isn’t?

Because Fisher was as racist

As it fucking gets

No, we’re not reading

The Wax Turtle

The fucking Wax Turtle
Which is abysmal
But at least, uh
You know, kind of like--

A plane crash
A dated plane crash
Sort of--

Oddly, you know--

A can't-look-away
Kind of situation

No

We’re reading Elliott’s Surprise

Yes

Yes, yes, yes

Elliott's Surprise

Which is good for nothing but toilet paper

In my opinion

We sit there

In our circle of desks

Listened to Dr. Olanporte

Go on and on

About Fisher

Our books are in front of us

The cover

The fucking cover

Do you know what it is?

On the cover?

A man’s Watch

Which is just—

I mean, it doesn’t get

More extreme than that

If you’re looking for

Pure, unadulterated

Fisher

The sentences flex

Did you know that?

I didn’t know that

According to Dr. Olanporte

They flex

They stretch

They bend to your own perspective

On what Fisher is

And what he could be

Mumbo jumbo garbage

That’s what that is

And do you know something?

Dr. Olanporte looks at my legs

He thinks I don’t notice

But I notice

And everyone notices me notice

Except for him

The girl next to me

The beautiful girl

Who went down on me last night

After the Modern Fiction workshop?

--She notices

She tells me to say something

But I don’t want to say anything

I just want to get through this fucking class

That we’re required to take

Because Olanporte runs the department

And so we’re reading Fisher

And after Fisher

God only knows

The syllabus only says ‘TBD’

And never

Never

Have three letters

Looked more ominous

You're not even supposed
To TBD that much

But when you’re a tenured professor

In his late-seventies

You can TDB to your heart’s delight

And nobody can say a damn thing

And so that’s what Olanporte does

And we’re all just sitting here

With barely touched copies

Of Elliott’s Surprise

A book that should have gone out of style

With The Taming of the Shrew

And the Magna fucking Carta

The watch on the cover

Doesn’t tick

And neither does the clock

Above the classroom door

Fisher’s name is written in bold font

The color of rumbling papaya

I’m tempted to fill in the font

With the blackest pen I can find

But then I won’t be able to sell it back

Once the semester is over
And get my coveted fifty cent return

Olanporte reads from the book

And the girl next to me

Slips her foot towards mine

As a show of sexual solidarity

--Or maybe it’s just a happy accident

I pull my foot away

Not wanting any comfort

If I’m going to be miserable

I might as well be fully miserable

And not just halfway there

The words from the book

Flick their filthy fingers at me

And I allow them to

I allow all of this

All so I can get a degree

And burden myself with debt

In the hopes of one day

Sitting where Olanporte is sitting now

Making some other poor young woman

Read outdated garbage

She’d rather not read

And all because I enjoy it

In spite of the younger resistance

Which will come

As it always does

Nobody escapes it

Fisher certainly didn’t

And neither will I

The time runs out

And the class is dismissed

I get up and walk to the door

The last to leave

Too embattled to escape

Any faster

Before I make my exit

I lock eyes with Olanporte

The Head Executioner

The Man O’ the Gallows

The Torture Teacher

I step towards the wastebasket

Holding Elliott’s Surprise above it

Using only two fingers

And without a blink

Or a smirk

I let the novel

Fall