is an important aspect
of any class text. Ask
your professor if you may
say no way! to object, or
hey! to interject, in any essay
meant to earn respect.
You can’t say: this dude
Knows his shit. Nor can you
Say: he’s full of it. to argue
Your point, your joint
Gotta have vocab game.
However and nonetheless
Kick but’s ass. They got
Up-in-the-front-of-the-class.
Address to impress.
Your convention hall pass.
The rules of tone are all
unspoken. One learns
the hard way
that they can be broken.
~ from Red Silk: An Anthology of South Asian Canadian Women Poets
(Mansfield Press, 2004)
