Rooftop Poetry Club - Joe Marren

Joe Marren

Bio:
Joe Marren is an associate professor in the communication department at Buffalo State College, where he teaches theoretical and applied journalism and new media courses. As a newspaper columnist with Business First of Buffalo, he wrote several bad poems in imitation of Ogden Nash and William Carlos Williams, who privately really blamed Marren for eating the plums in the icebox.

His Web site is http://www.joemarren.com.

Poems:

Rooftop Aphorisms

I
Turn 40 or 50 and you’ll soon see
You’re invisible to people in their 20s
No ratemyprofessor.com chilis for me.

II
The job begins with a quest and adventure:
Service + Teaching + Scholarship = Tenure

III
You come to me sweatin’ and prayin’
Hoping to get an A
So that’s when I say
If you do your thinkin’ and writing’
You’ll pro’ly do OK

IV
We stand on giants’ shoulders
To learn to be just a wee bit bolder

V
We want our students to be Byronic, not moronic

Haikus

in imitation of Santiago Brocki (Soy Santiago Mis chistes y mis rimas Son jerigonza)

I
Unfold the map now
And tell me where to find love
We all seek its home

II
I see only shins
Walk past the basement window
Ahead into hope

III
THEM: Your a/s/l?
ME: Y did U IM me?
THEM: 2 make U real

IV
I sigh and walk more
To get rid of age and fat
Temptation still wins