Lament Of The Perplexed Student Poem by Sonny Rainshine

Remember when you wrote your first essay
in high school, and an eternally optimistic teacher,
so sure that you could do it,
she just KNEW it,
wrote solemnly on the blackboard:
Compare and contrast
Milton’s portrait of Satan
with that of Dante?

How are they alike?
she prompted,
and how do they differ?

And you raised your hand
and innocently asked:
Who are these people?

Read the text;
compare and contrast.

And how you thought:
I wonder if there is some
far away kingdom
where there are no texts
and no people with funny names
and no comparing and contrasting.

And then you wrote your essay,
and then you got it back marked “C-“
with a note: Contrasted to a cogent
discussion of Milton and Dante,
your essay has no comparison.

High school is hard.