Wednesday, February 28, 2007
graduation blues (in the key of extended metaphor)
Today I made my way to Wilson Hall for my graduation check...clean bill of health...I'm set to graduate.Now, of course with hearing this news I was excited, but there's a part of me that's unsteady about this who graduating thing. It's like I've been running on this staircase for the past 3 years, waiting to get to the top...only to realise that it's one of those staircases on the sets of sitcoms that go nowhere and standing on top of it all you see is a fat security guy stealing a donut and b-list celebs getting made-up. Sorry about the long-winded metaphor--but hey--blame it on the staircase.
At this point I always assumed I would feel mature, with a real sense of purpose and direction...what happened to that? I have the next year or so planned: working the summer, backpacking in Europe for a couple months, working through the holidays...but that's where my great planning gets a little vague.
"I'll move somewhere"
"I'll get some kind of job...a notch above scrubbing toilets...a few below meaningful career"
"I'll read more and spend most of my time writing...give myself a chance to pen the next great American novel?...?....?" (Okay, that's a bit of a stretch)
I can't be the only one who is feeling like the Wile E. Coyote (looking down to realise the cliff ended meters ago, just waiting to see how long it takes for me to plunge to the ravine with swirling lines and a run-down of the piano keys). I guess that's the plight of the undergrad--it feels like unless you're headed for a steady, entry-level job or headed to grad school, the only thing that's happening for you is getting the worried sighs for people older than you, and the wishful sighs of your peers saying "Man, I wish I didn't have to care about my future..."
I know I'm not alone...
...right?
Dash of Lit [words to get your gears a'turning]
What I'll share with you today is a poem which has come up in two separate courses this year, and I chose to recite from memory earlier this week. A little contemporary-transcendentalist-ish munbo-jumbo to keep you on your toes! (Oh, and the poet is a central Ohioian!)
The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
--Mary Oliver
Cheers!
Cheers!
First things, first
So, I've gotten bored with xanga (actually, that happened a long time ago...only now I feel like I need to keep a blog again). Eventually this will be filled with my poetry, photography, and general ramblings...but now I have to be on my way to class.cheers!