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Students & Sonnet 66: My Spanish-speaking students ask me where

December 21, 2011

On discussing the qualities of confidence the other day, a group of my students decided that the ability to be persuaded, to change your mind was a quality of confidence, because only those with confidence in their own abilities to make choices could do that. I thought that was very true and interesting. And then, well, you know me, I thought if this is true, there aren’t that many confident Republicans walking around are there because they never admit they’re wrong.

66

My Spanish-speaking students ask me where
The English language comes from and I tell
Them the Anglo-Saxons. But the conquest
Of England by France made their native tongue
Lower class, so crude and illiterate
That even to this day fuck, shit and piss
Aren’t said in polite society. We’re
Ashamed and self-hating hearing our dame
English is partly French. I ask, “Is there
Any French in Spanish like rapprochement
Or double entendre?” They all adamantly
Shake their heads no, no, no, till one student
Looks at the rest and says, “There’s déjà vu.”
They have to agree: “Déjà vu, that’s true.”

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