In the first Quarantine Spring, we produced many limericks, starting with ‘there once was a student[tutor] on zoom’. That line helped us to reflect on the sometimes funny side of our early online educational experiences. Charlotte Lenhard (BA European Studies) has now taken that opening line and done something else, reflecting on how much longer we have been here and a different meaning of ‘breakout room’.
For me, it was particularly evocative as I too have neighbours who have been renovating their house for many months. And one day, the drill did come through our party wall.
Keep sending me (sally.wyatt@maastrichtuniversity.nl) your poetry, short fiction, pictures, until the end of April.
This week, it’s also a pleasure to share one of Patrick Bijsmans’ beautiful photographs of the Limburg landscape. This time a cherry blossom tree.
Since the start of the corona pandemic, Patrick has been going on daily walks through nature for structure and distraction. On his walks, he has been taking beautiful pictures of his surroundings.
Charlotte Lenhard
THAT STUDENT ON ZOOM
There was once a student on zoom,
Determined to make the best of it.
In fact, they had even crafted a background
Of a very clean room.
There was twice a student on zoom,
Thinking of all the zoom rooms they had attended.
If they were stacked on top of each other,
The Eiffel Tower might get offended.
There was a student on zoom
One too many times.
Their neighbours were drilling,
Drilling right through the wall?
At least that would make things less dull.
They knew the drill by then.
There was once a student,
Always on zoom.
Perhaps breakout rooms were made…
Made to be broken out of?
That’s how they felt,
But the drill doesn’t mind.
We all know it by now.
