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Sonnet L'Abbé (1973-)

Tone


              1is an important aspect
              2of any class text. Ask
              3your professor if you may
              4say no way! to object, or
              5hey! to interject, in any essay
              6meant to earn respect.

              7You can’t say: this dude
              8knows his shit. Nor can you
              9say: he’s full of it. To argue
            10your point, your joint
            11gotta have vocab game.

            12However and nonetheless
            13kick but’s ass. They got
            14up-in-front-of-the class.
            15Address to impress.
            16Your convention hall pass.

            17The rules of tone are all
            18unspoken. One learns
            19the hard way
            20that they can be broken.

Notes

10] your joint: your work or expression, as in "A Spike Lee Joint" (Lee's name for a film production).

11] vocab: recent abbreviation for "vocabulary" (esp. in foreign tongues, for which see OED "vocab"). game: pluck and mastery to win.


Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Copyright © Sonnet L'Abbé 2006. Not to be republished without permission of the poet.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.

Original text: Red Silk: An Anthology of South Asian Canadian Women Poets , ed. Rishma Dunlop, Priscila Uppal, and Hiro Boga (Toronto: Mansfield Press, 2004).
First publication date: 2004
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: 2006
Recent editing: 1:2006/2/16*1:2006/2/16*1:2006/2/16*1:2006/2/16

Rhyme: irregularly rhyming


Other poems by Sonnet L'Abbé