The World's Most Mysterious Place:
Trouble Technique
Read through all of the submissions. When you find something that gives you pause, copy and paste the troubling item into another document. It doesn’t matter why it has given you pause at this point.
Once you have copied all troubling items, create rhymes for each troubling line. The rhyme should be your reaction to the troubling line, if possible exploring what makes the line troubling to you.
If a troubling item is only one line, the result is a rhyming couplet. If the troubling item is two lines, rhyme both lines with the resulting ABAB rhyme scheme. For three lines, the rhyme scheme will be ABCABC, and so on. You may break long lines into smaller lines.
Untitled
Sungwoo, the son of thunder
If people cannot speak a language,
they would be an animal that walks upright.
A classroom changes animals to people,
and the people start to expose their feelings.
Well trained animals become the king of a classroom,
and it makes them have a more comparative advantage in the romantic market.
For someone who has never been to a classroom,
it would be the world's most mysterious place
where animals can be turned to a human being.
Trouble 1
He is the one who sees me the most
How does it feel being watched by a ghost?
Trouble 2
I did not dare use him
to boost my English
Back then I felt the same
but now I’m not so squeamish.
Trouble 3
We believed that he had been educated
by the higher advanced US school.
“Higher advanced” can be debated
I don’t know a degree from a Joule.
Trouble 4
we could study with a good teacher
from leading country for all fields on the world
Young, confused, a godless preacher
I wince at when my flag unfurled.
Trouble 5
Daily the boys in class had to walk in class
with a halogen monitor on shoulder
because at that time we didn't
have PowerPoint equipment.
Students as labor, I let it pass.
A class could carry a boulder.
A group could raid a national mint.
My chalk tray was empty. It meant…?
Trouble 6
We were excited as we had
some foreign teachers from America
who speaks standard English to help us improve
our pronunciations like Pro Jack.
My opinions were especially bad
and I droned on esoterica.
Whatever my standard it wouldn’t behoove
any attention to my feedback.
Trouble 7
the tables were unmovable,
but the teacher could rearrange for his classroom activities.
Grouping the ungroupable.
Who is this man with godlike proclivities?
Trouble 8
I saw a few times you ate candies, bananas in my class.
Immature hunger. So selfish, so crass.
Trouble 9
a young teacher who was strict
whose humility was derelict
Trouble 10
I was a little bit scared of his tall and thin body.
Fearsome like Iggy? Scary like karate?
Trouble 11
He was in many pictures of us although he was not very interested in posing for pictures.
I’m glad I acquiesced, but I resist still an image of fixture.
Trouble 12
From the bottom of my heart, I had many things to regret about the relationship with the teacher.
Maybe we could have been closer if I weren’t such a solitary creature.
Trouble 13
he was very young at that time so he was an idol of my class girls.
I couldn’t accept this. I was a swine shown pearls.
Trouble 14
The class clapped loudly and praised Jack's ability to play the guitar.
My talent was minimal. My song choices bizarre.
Trouble 15
We heard Jack talk about America, American fairy tales,
we told Jack about beautiful love stories in Dalat city,
the places found in Vietnamese poetry.
I talked about slavery and hunting white whales
You told of lovers ending their lives in calamity
Conversations of morbid probity
Trouble 16
We had a great experience in bringing our Vietnamese culture into activities.
Was the curriculum an open design or flawed in exclusivities?
Trouble 17
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
But why do you remember this? Please explain.
Trouble 18
Sometimes I felt lonely,
but I think
the loneliness made me sronger.
Alone but not only,
Strengthening
the wrong that somehow gets wronger
Trouble 19
We liked you to play guitar
Lucky for you it was pre-Blackstar
Trouble 20
A young, emotional, enthusiastic, and experienced teacher
You saw what I thought was hidden, my least acknowledged feature.
Trouble 21
We found it hard when joining any kind of sport activities
A teacher can be oblivious of extra-curricularities.
Trouble 22
foreign teachers often organized fun games,
such as "There is hole on the floor" game.
I would like for you to name some names.
A brush of blood on top of the door frame.
Trouble 23
foreign teacher used to wear Ao Dai
(Vietnamese women's traditional dress),
which made them really charming and shining.
Some were catcalled by old guys
Other comments left to be guessed
My colleagues embarrassed at what they’re signing.
Trouble 24
He were friendly although he came from a rich country.
I don’t have wealth here but wealth can haunt me.
Trouble 25
Jack, Kavin, Matt, Candy?
white teachers, definitely
they are not the same caucasian
which means they might have
a different family origin:
where their ancestors came from.
however, as an Asian,
I see just all white teachers.
Whiteness as modus operandi.
Whiteness by effort can be
a lazy explanation.
We four, and most of the staff,
were not encouraging
race topics as a depth we could plumb.
We missed occasion
and fouled into the bleachers
Trouble 26
The morning I was tired of my new lifestyle
The teacher walked in with a forced smile.
Trouble 27
Jack with very big hands
Jack erasing letters on the board with hands
I hope that you understand
I do what the classroom demands.
Trouble 28
Prayer before starting class
Alas, not I, alas.
Trouble 29
The emotion when Prof. Peterson was going to leave this campus.
Our heart and brain will meet again in the hippocampus.
Trouble 30
Very detailed syllabus
Unwittingly villainous.
Trouble 31
As a second language learner, I feel that was one of the best times in my college.
Peaking as a freshman, it may be truth but it’s hard to acknowledge.
Trouble 32
broken TV
especially for me
Trouble 33
Watching 'Gran Torino' comes to my mind.
It was a fine curricular choice at the time.
Trouble 34
Outside the classroom, people would hangout and study
in the study rooms adjacent to the classroom.
That is where each of us get to talk individually and bond.
Outside the classroom is where people are able to make a buddy
I wish there were a way to make a friendship bloom
in a class. Or is a class where friends are spawned?
Trouble 35
It gathered us to speak as one.
But Babel never reached the sun.
Trouble 36
As if I was part of the American culture
As if I was passionate student
As if I was independent person but cared
Respect and responsibility and learning overwhelmed the place.
As if I was an eagle, and not at all a vulture.
As if I was wizened and prudent.
As if I was equipped and prepared.
You named me a runner and learned to keep the pace.
Trouble 37
Exhaustion due to fear, of an accent misheard.
I’m sorry I couldn’t hear your delicate word.