JACKIE KAY

A student now poet BZ
refuses to take
exams and is
cross -examined
in its place,
tell me, briefly,BZ
the vegetative imagery
in Milton 's Paradise Lost,
and from Shakespeare
name every character in King Lear
first lines from Keats ode
Yeats,Blake and Larkin, Kay
as I complied and knew
each answer by heart
"How do you account for
your knowledge before college"
the professor asked me,
and I answered with affection,
"My Uncle Alfred tutored me
in all the English classics,"
the professor said,
"No further exams,for you,BZ
and you will student teach
from this day".