“I with no rights in this matter,
“I with no rights in this matter,Neither father nor lover.”
Neither father nor lover.”–Roethke
At the end of every academic term, my office computer figures the grades my students earned over the previous eleven weeks. Spring term is the most fraught with emotion for various reasons, and some students bring considerable forces to bear upon their instructors. But one student, Sarah, did not bring much force to bear at all, and she didn’t turn in some crucial assignments. In fact, she ceased attending five weeks before the end of the term. She enrolled in English 212, Contemporary Fiction. Until she stopped attending, I saw her five days a week in her regular place: on the left by the windows, halfway back. She seldom raised her hand, but she answered whe
