On Teaching

Understanding dawns
on this long winter morning -
eventually.

On Deadlines and the Passage of Time

Midnight approaches
the remorseless moon still moves:
your abstract is due.

On IT

Is this frozen screen
- like a parable of death -
meant to teach patience?

University Festivities

An empty foyer.
The Department's plastic tree -
faint lights in the dark.

On Winter Writing

Sparrow in the snow.
A punctuation of tracks -
black ink on paper.

On the Difficulties of Prompting a Reply from a Peer

Hibernating bear.
My colleague, ferocious once,
on sabbatical.

On Offprints

These wintery drifts,
papers heaped in my office -
how they fire my mind!

After Basho's Most Famous Lines

A still library.
A student opens a book -
the crack of its spine.

On Drafts

Faded grey toner.
Even the printer seems old,
exhausted by words.

Outside the Library

Only autumn leaves
hide signs of desperation:
crushed cigarette butts.

On Bibliophilia; A Poem Written Almost Entirely by Someone Else

Prospero knew it:
"Me, poor Man, my Library
was Dukedom enough."

On the Possibilities of Renewal in Winter

Like the arctic hare,
with winter we don new coats:
corduroy or tweed?

On the Conflicting Demands of Art and Academia

Autumnal musings
on fiery falling leaves:
bad for R.A.E.

On a Sense of Panic Around the University

Swirling students skirl
like wind-blown autumnal leaves:
Examinations.

On the Passage of Time and Favourite Writing Implements

The black ink rises.
How thirsty my fountain pen!
Dry from long neglect.

On the Evidence of Previous Users' Mishandling of Library Books

Marginalia,
wild underlinings in pen!
Yet, they missed the point.

On a Slight Nostalgia for a Neglected Format and Musings on the Discipline's Stipulated Preference for the Harvard System of Referencing

Proliferating
parentheses in my text:
whither the footnote?

On Lingering in the Department after 5pm

Coffee aroma
the microwave's lonely ping:
working late again.

On the Library's Demand for a Book to be Returned

A recall notice.
Alas. Shall I never know
what the author wrote?

On Autumn Deadlines

In the quadrangle
shadows lengthen every night -
unlike my thesis!

On the Nature and Remit of This Blog

Ivory Haiku:
Musings from the Tower of
Academia