Poems from 2002

The other day, I uncovered some writing I did in college. It is fun to look back on the time of my life when I wrote every day. Now I tell my students they need to write every day, and I watch Brooklyn 99 on Hulu. I cringed, I laughed, and I decided I want to share a lot of it on this blog- but maybe not all at once. This place has become mostly an archive. I look back every now and then at past posts and smile. With that thought in mind, this blog is a win.

In honors of Valentine's Day, I thought my first Jon:the college years post could be a love poem. This was written some time between 2001 and 2002:

The coward on love 

I’ll write a poem

On a rose petal,

She’ll love me for that.

She’ll say,

“How divine, how romantic,

lets have picnics,

he’s mine.

And some day soon

 we’ll laugh

In an apartment atop dirty streets

Where the affluent turn round,

But he’ll live

next to me.

We’ll argue about

Car trouble, instability, and

Dumb dreams.

He’ll do art, I’ll support him.

We’ll work hard and raise children.

He’ll still be damned hot

When he’s wrinkled and bald. 

Then our graves will lie next

 to a tree which turns pretty in autumn.”

So I sit

With a pen and a rose and some thoughts.

Pour my heart into symbols

Of passion distraught.

The finale is deep,

So creative and true.

Our future’s so bright

She’ll be mine oh so soon.

But the poem doesn’t fit on the little red shape,

so fuck it.