A cat will chase its tail.  I chase my own,
From time to time, examining the hoops
Through which one is to jump,
If one is to become credentialed.
Be a poet!  Rest assured that
Everybody knows you are,
And gain a shot at chapbook
Fame, at honors, at a paid position
Pounding on a lecturn, pressing
Pointers at some spreadsheet pages,
Boring undergraduates, and to what
End?  To catch one's tail, and be
Declared (along with countless,
Hopeless others) to be what one
Always was, and had to be, though
Currently without credentials:  one
More sorry sap, who's always
Writing poetry.