---
title: Academic Life - reverse.exe
url: https://www.halimmadi.com/singulars/reverse-exe/academic-life
description: "Academic Life: one theme of reverse.exe, two poems, one by the poet and one by the machine, unsigned. Read them and vote."
generated: 2026-10-19
---

# Academic Life

## academic-life.txt

trained

theme · reverse.exe

Training is closed. Vote counts are final.

[reverse.exe](https://www.halimmadi.com/singulars/reverse-exe)

## vote.exe

2 poems · 3 votes

One poem is by a human, one is by a machine, and you are not told which. Pick the one you prefer, then submit your vote.

poem a

In the bustling corridor, under the glare of fluorescent, the quotes are worn anchors on warm wood. I finish a paragraph, crossword puzzles of ideas. Literature? In this fluorescent sky, no more than a homework we check off: identity, form, legitimacy. I down a coffee, the stomach remembers a last decade empty of punctuation. Back to my desk, I arrange these books like fragile roofs over dreams, take out the pen as one would a less dull knife. Here, every phrase is a small suicide attempt.

poem b

I am the belt
that conveys delight
the soft digestion of ink
into honey sugar
baby me, press my eyes
closed and get
me to listen

Vote on [the theme's page](https://www.halimmadi.com/singulars/reverse-exe/academic-life).