UC San Diego Poem

*UC San Diego*

Let’s take it outside.
And see if we can handle this.

The experience that begins with stepping onto
La Jolla sunshine for the first time:
And receiving a warm welcome.
It’s waiting for you outside
for UnOlympic Games with the unfamiliar names
Who have adopted this Vista View:
Now this family shares the same name as you.

Welcome to a family that welcomes all
with an All-Campus Dance,
You asked to feel California:
Now is your chance.
The four-year party: Has begun,
Don’t run—Tan the Hide: Come on outside.
Makeover the urges to hide safe inside,
Get out—Tan the Hide:
Come on outside.
Out to RIMAC where the first party at,
And at Sun God it brings the whole party back:
For a festival of music where amp stars compose
Hot bursts from the fires that soundly transpose
Moves caused by the stars—into stellar bodies,
Fires started on stage—now it’s everybody’s.
Come on outside
&
Gather ’round the fire.

Outside. Where on the first week, you Meet the Beach; you haven’t seen San Diego till you reach the beach.
Look up what it means to have this view upon admission,
And find “The School at the Beach” is our standard definition.
When the ocean rushes & greets you: wave back,
You’re lost without the need to ever find your way back.
The beaches are really something. Something Pacific.
Something Sublime—to be specific.
When compared to other schools we pull the SD card,
And the memories of the ocean—
Swell our home yard.

Outside you’ll find art in Stuart’s Collection and
Geisel Library with prismatic direction.
Out on Snake Path to the faultless Geisel,
Read/Write/Think/Dream without revisal.
Outside on Matthews for Hullabaloo,
Outside Town Square by Triton’s statue.
Price Center Plaza to enjoy a sunny day,
&
Revelle Fountain, letting Blue & Gold spray.
The eucalyptus grove—listening to the trees,
Singing & Speaking—the volume never leaves,
If a tree falls with none around—does it make a sound?
At UCSD—trees’ volume never leaves.
Come out to the lawn of our own Stonehenge,
The Project where fertile conversations unhinge.
Come out to Farmer’s Market—here on Tuesdays,
Then squeal Tijuana to San Diego padres.
Come to the courtyard to pose by the Bear
On graduation day then depart from the lair.
Tritons found at home—a daily bright side,
Now it is time to
Venture Outside.

From Alma Mater Vol. 3: The West
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
©2016. Original Clyde Aidoo. All rights reserved