[stylist] Poem - "Reed College" - Final Draft

[William L Houts]

HI Shawn,

Reed College is in Portland, Oregon.  Beautiful campus, obscenely 
gifted, often ironic  student body.  I fit right in and was popular for 
the first time in my school life.  But I wasn't yet ready for the work 
load, and I had other fish to fry anyway, like many kids at that time in 
their life.  I've heard that the drop out rate at Reed, at least during 
the time I went there, was very high.


--Bill




On 7/14/2015 9:13 AM, Jacobson, Shawn D via stylist wrote:
> I came to this poem late, just now, and find it very interesting.  I like the comparison of alternative learning to magicians and witches learning through arcane means.  I think our culture is not comfortable with anything done through unconventional means.
>
> BTW--is Reed college in Maine, I think I had a co-worker who went there.
>
> Shawn
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of William L Houts via stylist
> Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2015 11:44 AM
> To: stylist at nfbnet.org
> Cc: William L Houts
> Subject: Re: [stylist] Poem - "Reed College" - Final Draft
>
> HI Jackie,
>
> I can deeply relate to your experience, even though it was something of the opposite to mine.  In my family, no one had gone to college and so family dreams were laid on my back to carry. When I came home from Reed that year, I was viewed like some kind of loser christ who had failed to stay on the cross for the requisite three days.  The truth, though I couldn't articulate it at the time, is that I had suffered a nervous breakdown and was truly incapable of attending class. But things as hardcore as family aspirations don't acknowledge such things.  It's taken me this long, almost, to get over it and one of my brothers is still angry with me over the situation. Thank you, waiter, I thihnk I'll have your Damnation Plate this evening, together with an order of Guilt Salad.
>
>
> --Bill
>
>
>
>
>
> On 7/14/2015 8:08 AM, Jackie Williams via stylist wrote:
>> Bill,
>> This brings back a painful time in my life. I first went to Iowa State
>> College where my  father had gotten his Ph.D. in chemistry and was a
>> revered teacher.
>> I flunked chemistry with an I, meaning I had to take it over, and
>> would get the grade I earned the second time. Not much better. This in
>> a family where anything but an A was considered flunking!
>> And so it goes when you follow other than your own passions.
>> I liked the poem. Truly accessible.
>>
>> Jackie Lee
>>
>> Time is the school in which we learn.
>> Time is the fire in which we burn.
>> Delmore Schwartz	
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of William
>> L Houts via stylist
>> Sent: Monday, July 13, 2015 1:13 PM
>> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
>> Cc: William L Houts
>> Subject: [stylist] Poem - "Reed College" - Final Draft
>>
>>
>>
>> HI Poets,
>>
>> Here's one I wrote some time ago, but which I haven't really shown to
>> anybody.  I think it's a pretty friendly poem, but then I would, being
>> its papa and all.
>>
>>
>> --Bill
>>
>>
>> ---
>>
>>
>>
>> Reed College
>>
>> It's a school of global fame,
>>
>> thronged with wits and prodigies.
>>
>> a scholar's earth: I flunked,
>>
>> though I clearly belonged.
>>
>> There's a joke in that,
>>
>> though it's taken thirty years to laugh.
>>
>> I've come to awareness, call it,
>>
>> by other paths.I've studied
>>
>> magicians and witches, the wisdom
>>
>> gain from walking backwards
>>
>> through mirrors, and forwards
>>
>> through minds also untroubled by schools,
>>
>> by rules of mental engagement.
>>
>> There's joy in that, and reason and rue,
>>
>> like walking kneewise through desert,
>>
>> sweltering sick
>>
>> and finding fountains cold,
>>
>> and gracious as mother.
>>
>> It's surprising, sustaining and true:
>>
>> I don't recommend it.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>


-- 


"Oh, Sophie!  Whyfore have you eated all de cheeldren?"