Monday, 18 February 2008

Why I'm not a Research Scientist

six week lab project
with no sign of a result -
grade A for effort.
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measuring wheat stems

in a noisy, dusty room -
cheap student labour.

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counting all the plants
in a square metre of grass -
surrounded by cows

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taking soil samples
to the lab to count earthworms -
rucksack full of dirt.

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bad jobs for Mad Kanes Haiku Prompt.

11 comments:

Wisdom Of Heart said...

Crafty Green Poet...thank you for visited my site...keep reading

I enjoy reading your blog

Anonymous said...

Those are great fun! Thanks for participating in my latest prompt!

Bill said...

A very good set, Juliet. I like the way "soil samples" is transformed into "dirt."

Anonymous said...

You have such a knack for haiku. A friend of mine used to work in a lab and this set reminded me of the way she used to describe it. So well done!

RG said...

So true. One college job I had I pulled and weighed tomatoe vines from these measured patches at an Agricultural school. In the winter I ground those vines up into marked vials for analysis by grad. students. In the Spring I recorded the analysis results on a huge paper spread sheet. I have no clue what it all meant, but I got paid!

Anonymous said...

Hi, CGP!

I thought of you when I saw this ecological literature contest: http://www.knockjournal.org/submit/ecolit-contest.html
on the Practicing Writing blog.
I'm passing it along in case you haven't seen it. Seems like a natural for you.

Tommaso Gervasutti said...

I totally agree with you about "Fugitive Pieces", it's such a powerful novel, with intense poetic prose. I remember I even listened to A.Michaels in a Venetian bookshop presenting it.
One of the great fiction memories of the eighties. I never read her poetry though.
Best wishes, Davide

Crafty Green Poet said...

HI my backyard, thanks for the recommendation, it looks good! Hopefully I'll get something together before the closing date!

Davide - Glad you also enjoyed Fugitive Pieces,

patricija - thanks for visiting

mad kane - thanks for the prompt!

bill, selma - thanks!

rabbits guy - the mysteries of research!

Anonymous said...

Love the sentiment Crafty. I have a 'green' poem I posted yesterday, if you have the time. :)

little wing writer said...

i loved those!!!... hilarious...as a gardener i would be in heaven... dirt, earthworms...

Crafty Green Poet said...

littlewing - oh i like earthworms and soil too, don't get me wrong, but carrying bags of soil around to count the earthworms isn't the best thing to do...