August end
Welcoming Autumn cool breeze
Distributing new academic spiritual syllabus
Sun illuminates' life’s pondering campus
Deceased leaves spotlight beauty
Depart the world
Will return again
Alive and well
A Mother nature rebirth
Steeped in tradition
Tonight an escort holds a lantern
Ready to guide me
Through the early fall dark
Star less night
Wanting another day
“Do not be afraid
Future arrives soon
And you will have your historical spirit”
This I remember
Getting ready to haunt
Those who need answers
More than gold
Introducing closure
Honest strong treasure
Discovered through
Exploring resting peace
This I am told
After ghost orientation 101
Driving my old, worn-out car,
By chance, near the campus of Chosun University,
I saw a beautiful woman walking by.
Before I knew it, my eyes were locked on her.
Inside my "Blackie," a car with window tinting long faded,
It felt as if I were breathing in her sweet scent
For nearly a thousand seconds,
Sending her a silent, admiring greeting.
But with the sharp instinct of a cat’s whiskers,
She sensed the wave of my gaze
In a mere 0.00001 seconds.
"What a loser, staring at me like that!"
"At least he recognizes beauty when he sees it!"
And then, she furiously began to type on her smartphone,
As if channeling her pure rage.
"Hey girl, some loser in a total junk car
Keeps staring at me. So gross!"
Passing her by in my old, black junk car, leaving her far behind,
I kept driving as if trapped in a sweet, fleeting dream.
While she, as if she had just encountered a nightmare,
Shuddered in disgust and hurried on her way.
I woke up and felt dead.
Nothing new, but I’m spurred on by tonight’s events,
A chance to drink and party with friends.
I didn’t understand my lecture and the tutorial went over my head,
But it’s fine, it’ll be drunkenly forgotten by the time I’m in bed.
Mondays are tough, I’m not rewarded refuge from the noise,
I’m left yearning for the next night out with the boys.
When I won’t stress about uni,
When I no longer hate the way I look,
The scars disappear as if the alcohol took- all the that pushes me over,
All the restless torments and stupid insecurities,
But they’ll be back, and worse, as soon as I’m sober.
The floodgates reopen and the water floods my mind,
Accompanied by headaches and nausea entwined,
Now it’s worse than ever because all that I can think,
Is when an earth can I next drink.
The row of hydro flasks standing proud on seminar desks,
The red splat outside the door of our flat made
Coz they wouldn't let me put my pressure cooker into venting mode in the kitchen.
Venting mode is what my flatmates are switched to coz of my mess one day,
But the next they are chuckling
'Bout how I mopped without getting the crud off the floor.
It is knocking on each others' doors with our fists when sober,
Flopping in when drunk.
It is thinking, wow, since my flatmate won't date me,
Her boyf must be a real hunk.
University is the range of washing up liquid colours
And the cluster of tomatoey scran in the freezer,
But also Groundhog Day with linguistics lecturers asking us
What we call a bread roll and how we say ‘bath’.
When will I wash it all off?
University days of my youth
life was a smorgasbord of unlimited opportunity
~ where has the time gone?
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
go to bed •think bemusingly of you
loop (cond) { tomorrow }
I rise in the morning,
jog an 8K •thinking of you, wash up
drink some flavored, black coffee
watch the morning sun balloon
eat toast while reading a set amount
write my unique and uninteresting analysis
work on half a dozen, odd assignments
walk .8 miles to campus •thinking of you
team up, with some older, uninteresting guys
interview a focus group, present dataset interpretations
walk .8 miles back to my flat •thinking of you
eat while reading a set amount
go to bed •think bemusingly of you
loop (cond) { tomorrow }
I rise in the morning…
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Songs for this:
Falling Down a Wellby Jack J
Overtime (pt 1) by Mk.gee [E]
The bitterly heavy rains had cleared,
and though the afternoon heat
reeked more of eternal summer
than of spring, we felt her hover
through our wide-eyed gazes,
the unapologetic smiles and in
every wrong turn taken, in
every awkward interaction.
Amidst a meadow of paper and texts,
fresh intellect shows signs of blossom
while the wardens of nature -
the lapwings and ravens - observe
the dawn of a season of rebirth.
A/N: I just started my university journey, and my father (who also went to the same uni like 35 years ago) saw the common areas of the university packed with undergrads and commented on how it looked like spring in full bloom. I really liked that imagery, and I told him I'd write a poem on it, so here we are. I also incorporated some other observations I'd made - like how animals (especially birds) were super tame on campus grounds.
Like Harry Potter, the sorting hat (my mom)
has placed me in a bloody, crimson colored school.
It’s disorienting, as I go about, the logos are wack.
Poor little rich girl
no beachside lovers
this interminable, scorching summer.
I’m swept up by scholastic spirit.
Can you hear it? Cause it’s deafening me,
on this cool, dry, Boston orientation day.
As we finished our morning 8k jog,
the sunrise blossomed, painting hot lava clouds
with hues of yellow, orange and pink.
We’re traipsing unfamiliar paths,
It’s not what we’re used to, the roads are uneven
and the architecture’s all boxy and wrong.
.
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Songs for this:
New Toy by Lene Lovich
Better After All by Jonatha Brooke
Now At Last by Feist
I was going to become a teacher
I thought it was my calling
I was young and thought it best
to go to university straight out of high school
before I'd go to teachers' college
Well... things did not go as planned
for better or for worse, who knows
I got sidetracked ended up taking a job
education got shelved for longer than expected
So I worked and launched a modest career
No guidance maybe no brains ~ who knows
But in the end I realized the truth ~
if you don't choose, life chooses for you
Go for your dreams or risk living with regrets
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
I’m finally going to get on that platform
on the 18th of next month,
for a first-time, one-time performance.
The once, seemingly impossible will come fully true,
which seems like a lot narratively.
It’ll be like leaving home—but we’re crashing out.
Moving on to other plot points, big topics and intense missions.
We’re all caustically optimistic.
Although there’s a cellular-level pull to move on
we can’t help but feel a hesitancy to jump into our multifarious futures.
We’ve never been improvident.
In my personal pool of experience, when I feel alone,
friendless and unseen, this unintelligible fear noise arises,
and I'm tempted to tap out. But I never have.
.
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Songs for this:
walk but in a garden by LLusion
What Dreams Are Made Of by Evann McIntosh
I Like You (A Happier Song) [feat. Doja Cat] by Post Malone
I have rituals
for the first day of class
like a superstitious athlete
they get me into a good frame of mind
where I feel like a juggernaut who has total agency
and I don’t need to seek validation
It’s a moment in time
I have all my books—stacked on my desk
they look serious—very nuts and bolts
I’ve beaten the syllabuses to death
to try to figure out where my power lies
learning is all energy, it’s a marathon
it’s hard to sustain that for the entire semester
so not switching off, now and then, is unrealistic
Still, I’m comfy in in a classroom (I’m a senior)
Good students are just a little weird.
I say hello to the moon so she won’t feel alone
I say ‘cheers,” before taking a shot of mouthwash.
If I lose my ID, my lucky pencil or something, I call out, “treasure hunt!”
When treating everyone to grubHub I ask, ‘the usual?’ When we’re done I ask, ‘how was everything this evening?’
If I see a random girl looking fabulous, I tell her, because if I get complimented, I think about it for a week.
.
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A song for this:
Thetan by Single Gun Theory
There’s a lot of heat when all eight
of us suitemates are together.
I might have mentioned it somewhere.
We’re like surround sound,
or eight car alarms going off together,
it’s jabberwocky by an established team.
It can get frantic and frightening
for the uninitiated or inhibited.
Some of us are pretty boy-crazy
and there’s a mix-in of twinkling girl-crazy too.
We’re basey, bugzee, spaceheads and freaks,
yeah, we're the whole emotional spice rack.
“She’s a good person to kill time with,”
is pretty high praise around here
because we have so little free time.
But these are good people to kill time with.
And they’re portable, we travel, we invade,
we’re crazy young women who’ve got it made.
So if you’re coming at us, trying to enter our enclave,
you better be brave or a situational upgrade.
.
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Songs for this:
No New Friends (feat. Sia, Diplo & Labrinth) by LSD
Lysergic Bliss by of Montreal
Freedom Is Free by Chicano Batman
.
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slang…
basey = a cool loser, nice but a bit odd, a weirdo with style
bugzee = slightly crazy
spaceheads = people who talk about weird things
.
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Webster: Jabberwocky = meaningless speech or communication.
I turn off U.S. 30
at an exit for Ames
and see Jack Trice
Stadium expanded.
Memories stir
of football games
the jubilation and sorrow
found on the field
more than forty years ago
where campus heroes were made.
Three blocks away from campus
The Towers dormitories still
reach into the sky, my
fraternity in their shadows
is now a bed and breakfast.
Brothers there always said
the biggest lessons are
learned out of class.
I take in the sight
of the Iowa State Campus
and in my heart
live there again.
I see myself sitting behind
a coed in Psychology when I gazed
at her long, light blonde hair/
Now my mind replays our conversation
when I drove across town with her
after a Friday get-together.
The song, The Joker, played on the radio
and spoke to every desire felt in my heart.
Now I call out her name
and wonder where she’s gone.
The sun breaks through the clouds
as I pass through town for another time
such joy found as I live those times again.
(a disastrous morning Sonnet)
I am the very model of a girl who’s late for morning meal,
my charger failed, the printer jammed, the morning’s start has been surreal
I lost a scrunchy and a shoe, I had to use some dry shampoo
my Keurig had no k-cups too, so I’m feeling like a total shrew!
Our pre-dawn jog went really well, but now the morning's gone to hell
I couldn’t find clean underwear, I’m desperate to charge my cell,
I got some soap in my left eye, I stubbed my toe and nearly cried
While brushing teeth and hair in haste, I wonder why I even try.
Anna’s got an attitude; she’s not someone who’s normally rude
her hookup so ‘experimental’ has an irregular sleep-in schedule
how’s she going to get to class if she’s babysitting sleeping-lass
I guess I’m not the only one, who’s schedules simply come undone.
I woke her with a gentle voice and soothed her out—we had no choice
My morning happened to sideways go—but it fueled this grandiloquent tale of woe!
.
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A song for this:
Something Stupid by Michael Bublé and Reese Witherspoon
Today was the first day of class.
You should have seen all the people.
Everyone couldn’t have had class, some of them must
have been gawkers, the types that slow to watch
flat tire changings and car wrecks.
Some were carrying maps - freshmen.
Like student drivers they clogged the paths,
drawing a few looks.
They gaggle together like geese,
Jeeezus - shut UP and get ON with it, freshies! I thought.
Not ungenerously - I remember being lost - back in the day.
I have class, myself - in both the intrinsic sense - of style -
and in the “research for credit” ‘check in on the first day,’ kind.
Still, we’re parading, and I’ve always loved parades.
My one regret is that there are no mimes or elephants.
ok.. poetry..
Stress is somewhere in my propinquity.
See, it’s known to stalk this vicinity.
I’m not a freshman, so it hasn’t struck yet,
but when it does, and it will, you can bet,
that initially, it will shake my tranquility
and end our start-of-year festivities.
It will creepily creep, destroying my sleep,
until I prove my scholastic resiliency.
.
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Songs for this:
Violently Happy by Björk
Schoolin' Life by Beyoncé
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