Replace “fishin’” with “applyin’ to graduate school,” and that’s me right now. So, if you’re wondering where I went, no worries—I’m just trying to secure myself some kind of future as an artist is all. MFA, all the way! I’m sure I’ll post occasionally, but for all intents and purposes, consider me up to my eyeballs in applications.
And hearts,
Rachel
Filed under: woulda-coulda-shoulda | Tags: epic journeys, kind of a big deal, poetry, things i love
I’m sorry, I can’t resist; I’m emoting uncontrollably, and the only way I can express it is through poetry.
Come, my friends.
‘T is not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,—
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
—Alfred Lord Tennyson, from “Ulysses”
That’s America all over, isn’t it? Though much is taken, much abides; that’s where we live now. That’s what Obama’s presidency will mean for the history books: it is never too late to seek a newer world, to choose hope over fear, to want a better country enough to band together in one voice and say, “we deserve a better America.” Because we do. As a nation, we deserve leaders we can trust, and who trust us to be good stewards of our nation. Because I don’t know about you guys, but I plan on having some babies someday (in, say, 10 years or so, OKAY?), and I want them to be proud to be an American, the way I am today.
I know it’s a special day and that all this hope and enthusiasm will peter out, leaving ever-reliable Irony in their stead, but let’s hold onto this feeling, okay? Just a little bit. Keep it in your pocket; you’ll need your hands free, because as a country, we’ve got a lot of work to do.
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Filed under: woulda-coulda-shoulda | Tags: epic journeys, kind of a big deal, this is my serious face
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves—if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time—to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth—that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:
Yes We Can.
—President-elect Barack Obama
November 4, 2008
Filed under: woulda-coulda-shoulda | Tags: apocalypse, epic journeys, kind of a big deal, poetry, things i love, this is my serious face
Sometimes
Sometimes things don’t go, after all,
from bad to worse. Some years, muscadel
faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don’t fail.
Sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.
A people sometimes will step back from war,
elect an honest man, decide they care
enough, that they can’t leave some stranger poor.
Some men become what they were born for.
Sometimes our best intentions do not go
amiss; sometimes we do as we meant to.
The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow
that seemed hard frozen; may it happen for you.
—Sheenagh Pugh
Image via AP/Jae C. Hong
