I
Among twenty blinding tabs,
The only thing still loading
Was Blackboard.
II
I was of three tasks,
Like a class
In which there are three assignments.
III
The Blackboard processed its ones and zeros.
It was the backbone of my academic experience.
IV
A student and their grade
Are one.
A student and their grade and Blackboard
Are one.
V
I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of analysis
Or the beauty of discussion.
Pressing “submit”
Or just after.
VI
The hungry screen glowed
White as fangs.
Upon the tyrant syllabus
My eyes dart to and fro.
The mood
Of bewilderment while reading
An indecipherable charge.
VII
O professors of University,
Why do you imagine class on Zoom?
Do you not see how Blackboard
Has a course room
Awaiting us?
VIII
I know point values
And rubrics, efficient paths to passing;
But I know, too,
That Blackboard is involved
In showing what I know.
IX
When Blackboard went down for maintenance,
It marked the dawn
Of one of many updates.
X
At the sight of a Blackboard notification
Dawning in my inbox
Even the sleep-deprived student
Would cry out sharply.
XI
He drove to school
With cobbled-together homework.
Once, a fear struck him
In that he mistook
The sound of cars
For Blackboard notifications.
XII
The student is working.
Blackboard must be open.
XIII
She was working all afternoon.
She was studying
And she was going to study.
Blackboard lingered open
On her desktop.