Thirteen Thoughts on Plagiarism

(with apologies, pleadingly offered, to Wallace Stevens)

I
In eight pages of writing,
The only original thing
Was the name of the student.

II
I was really disappointed:
Like the students
Will be when they get their grades.

III
Rushing to meet deadlines, students copy:
A small sacrifice when playing the academic game.

IV
An assignment and effort
Are one.
The assignment and effort and a student
Should be one.

V
I do not know which more to hate:
The desperation of silly excuses
Or intellectual deceit,
The student despairing
Or its result.

VI
Red filled the long margins
With frustrated scrawls.
The student's unacknowledged
Borrowings shadowed the page.
My mood,
Darkened by these shadows,
Tracked unsolvable riddles.

VII
O Gate-keeping White Men
Why do you insist on straight 'A's
Before allowing students the
Careers of a careered society,
Tempting them to cheat?

VIII
I respect decent attempts and
When I see them, I richly reward;
But I know, too,
That students get others
To write papers for them.

IX
When a student sniffles in my sight,
Then screams "Unfair!"
The irony is palpable.

X
What is it called when students
Try to turn in work previously turned in?
My attempts at generosity
Are confounded by stupidity.

XI
"I sent it over the internet!
Last Saturday - you haven't received it?"
Once, e-mail actually worked.
Now, magic filters surely do
Detect and erase assignments
Sent by students!

XII
The semester has ended.
Some students must have failed.

XIII
With citations, it's called "Research".
With poetry it's called "Parody".
And it's all entirely inconsequential
For the student who
Just wants that damn degree.