Cheesy Poem with a Cheesy Nautical Metaphor

So tomorrow begins the start of a new term, and so of course I needed to write a poem. The weirdest thing about this year is that I know what to expect, but then I have no idea what it's going to be like. Naturally, what came to mind was the sea. A sailor may think he knows the waters that he frequents, but they are different every day, every voyage, and so the best he can do is assume that anything will be partially familiar and partially chance. Thus I came up with this.

It's nice writing poems again. I usually balk at first, but once I realize that I really should be writing, I let it all flow out. Yay, powers of inertia!

I have been here before,
But in the second time around,
Differences abound.
A wave breaching a familiar shore
And yet aware of little more.

So what can I expect, or brace?
As if the certainty dried out
When the sail came about
And I returned to a place
That thrives in morphing space.

So I close my eyes, let the rope slip,
For I must conserve when needed,
When adversity is greeted,
The weather may be fair this trip,
But many forces damage a ship.

Unpublished Material, ©2011 Cali Digre

35

So today ended my six weeks in Norway. It was quite sad, I must admit, but I will look forward to returning someday soon. Upon leaving, I got to thinking about who I was the last time I was there and how I could have never dreamed that I would be the person I am today. It's sort of crazy. I've been keeping my journal from the last time I was here and likewise almost don't remember being that person. I'm not saying that I've become a better person or a worse person. I'm just different. Different sense of humor, mannerisms, perspective.

Moral: When we are living, it's hard to see both where we've come from and where we're going.

I cannot say exactly when
Any return seemed rather cold.
Regarding now, could I say then
On where I’ve come from, where I’ve been?
The future could not be foretold.

So time is victim of this theft
Where gradient is quite in lack
And recollection far from deft:
What was I like when I first left,
And who will I be when I come back?


Unpublished Material, ©2011 Cali Digre

Dartmouth Appreciation Poem

So right now Dartmouth is having Dimensions for all the prospies who could potentially come here. Seeing them run around made me think about where I was a year ago, and how I had (almost) never thought of being here now. And how fortunate I am to be here. Yay nostalgia. Yay prospies.

Also if the rhythm and structure seem familiar, it's because I blatantly copied Robert Frost's "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" because I was too lazy to come up with my own structure. Also it seemed fitting because Frost went to Dartmouth for 3 months before he dropped out to take care of his mom. So.. another Dartmouth connection! So metaphysical.


When from a year I am detached,
Nostalgia cannot quite be matched.
Believe in life’s telicity,
A chance that I wisely had snatched.

Emotional simplicity,
And joy’s unkempt felicity
Could do no good service to sing.
Oh, too much electricity.

A pity to forget a spring
When one answer was everything,
When one choice had power to steer
The way even a cloud could fling.

Uncertainty predestines fear,
A shadowed future. In a year
How did I ever end up here?
How did I ever end up here?

Unpublished Material, ©2011 Cali Digre