Thursday, April 21
11:45-3pm
Caret Plaza, King Library, San José State University
As Santa Clara County Poet Laureate, I’ll be the featured reader at 1:30-1:45pm. Faculty, students, staff and alumni poets will be reading throughout the day in celebration of National Poetry Month.
Sally Ashton
Filed under Laureate's News
The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám
In my daily work and life, I often think of these four lines by Omar Khayyám, a 12th century Persian poet and mathematician. In particular I am drawn to the image of spring rain. It refreshes; it nurtures life; it sprouts green; it nourishes everyone, rich or poor; it softens the harsh edges of the world. But when I leave this world, I go like the wind without a trace. My existence is transient, ephemeral, without source and without destination, being part of nature.
Belle W. Y. Wei
Don Beall Dean of Engineering
Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering
San José State University
from The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám
With them the seed of Wisdom did I sow,
And with mine own hand wrought to make it grow;
And this was all the Harvest I reaped-
“I came like Water, and like Wind I go.”
Filed under Favorites of Local Leaders
Jason Baker
Mayor, City of Campbell
What Work Is
We stand in the rain in a long line
waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.
You know what work is–if you’re
old enough to read this you know what
work is, although you may not do it.
Forget you. This is about waiting,
shifting from one foot to another.
Feeling the light rain falling like mist
into your hair, blurring your vision
until you think you see your own brother
ahead of you, maybe ten places.
You rub your glasses with your fingers,
and of course it’s someone else’s brother,
narrower across the shoulders than
yours but with the same sad slouch, the grin
that does not hide the stubbornness,
the sad refusal to give in to
rain, to the hours wasted waiting,
to the knowledge that somewhere ahead
a man is waiting who will say, “No,
we’re not hiring today,” for any
reason he wants. You love your brother,
now suddenly you can hardly stand
the love flooding you for your brother,
who’s not beside you or behind or
ahead because he’s home trying to
sleep off a miserable night shift
at Cadillac so he can get up
before noon to study his German.
Works eight hours a night so he can sing
Wagner, the opera you hate most,
the worst music ever invented.
How long has it been since you told him
you loved him, held his wide shoulders,
opened your eyes wide and said those words,
and maybe kissed his cheek? You’ve never
done something so simple, so obvious,
not because you’re too young or too dumb,
not because you’re jealous or even mean
or incapable of crying in
the presence of another man, no,
just because you don’t know what work is.
Philip Levine, “What Work Is” from What Work Is.
Copyright © 1992 by Philip Levine.
Filed under Favorites of Local Leaders
Dance
as though no one is watching you,
Love
as though you have never been hurt before,
Sing
as though no one can hear you,
Live
as though heaven is on earth.
Filed under Favorites of Local Leaders
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