“What’s the strongest verb in the English language?” a poetry professor once asked our class. Those who answered landed on action words suggesting force or power. “‘Is,’” she said, “There’s no room for ambiguity with ‘is’: no becoming, no might be, no ‘what if?’ There simply is. That’s it.”
Another time, before spring break, the professor was going over an assignment that was due right before the vacation. I, who sat a yard away from her spot at the head of our rectangular table. asked what to do about handing it in if we couldn’t catch her in her office before the break.