UW-Oshkosh Poem

*UW—Oshkosh*

Like an intersection where a child meets her birth mother
for the first time:
Oshkosh is where you and your future meet.
And here we repeat the same phrase the mother utters to her daughter:

You’re among family now.

When you take the black, white, and gold bridge—
It will lead you to faces and places you never knew existed,
It is an opportunity to nurture these years,
Instead of the mother’s cry,
“I’m sorry I missed it.”

Oshkosh has birthed state senators, Supreme Court justices, United States senators, and a
Land of Titans…
So this mighty class is all yours to rule,
Oshkosh is your family now…
This is your home.
This is your school.

From Alma Mater Vol. 1: The Midwest
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
Copyright © 2014 Clyde Aidoo

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Posted in Poetry

Cardinal Stritch University Poem

Cardinal Stritch prepares us for this life and beyond,
Walking through fires like friars & Observants,
To the Red & Gray every wolf is fond,
And through Franciscan values: We are all servants.
You don’t have to be Catholic to live these values,
Only do what is necessary to reach & show love,
No, there is no appraisal on peaceful values,
Just find the world’s hatred then teach & sow love.
Then to better days these hearts will beat anew,
’Tis better to give back than to receive a royal fee,
Cardinal Stritch is known as the bridge between you and do:
“The Bridge between where you are and where you want to be.”
It’s true that life’s best things are free—and when afterlife rings:
We’ll learn to value the even better things.

From Alma Mater Vol. 1: The Midwest
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
Copyright © 2014 Clyde Aidoo

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Posted in Poetry

Edgewood College Poem

*Edgewood College*

An eagle’s call echoes long after its flight.
And even after death there remain feathers in sight.

While living we must ensure these feathers leave truth.

Our students read about these lives
On the Edge,
Then place down the paper & leap
From the ledge,
Flying over Lake Wingra
With the
Edgewood Pledge:

Speak the Truth
from the Heart…
Then
The Heart of Society

Will Respond.

From Alma Mater Vol. 1: The Midwest
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
Copyright © 2014 Clyde Aidoo

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Posted in Poetry

Marquette University Poem

*Marquette University*

The difference with Marquette is who we are…
And also what we aim to be.
It’s where we’ve been.
The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia,
Decorated as winners of the 1977 NCAA Championship.
Voyages through the Wisconsin and Mississippi River,
Abaft the legacy of the Marquette-Jolliet fleet.
On M.A.P. trips throughout the country,
providing service to communities in need.
On to limitless boundaries that embrace inclusion and new methods of learning.
At the Miracle on Westowne Square, beneath the lights of St. Joan’s Christmas Tree…
Then back again on Tuesday for Mass.
We always begin at the Mass of the Holy Spirit, where we’re granted with the strength to reflect through Mission Week
and on the guidance of our Ignatian heritage.

What makes us different is what we’ve done.

Selling out the BMO Harris Bradley Center,
Jam-Packed into a basketball heaven,
With every common student afire with God.
We Ring out Ahoya!
To remind visitors whose house this is.
We run to the lake to celebrate mammoth victories,
And when we travel west to Madison,

We Cross the Red Sea.

We proceed to walk & run for Briggs & Al, and have enough stamina in our hearts to run at Midnight to combat hunger and homelessness—
Along with a delivery of the Marquette Special to help keep them warm.
Some believe winning and success are indistinguishable. That there is no separation in this marriage.
We believe that winning is the sweet joy of having trophies raised in victory, while success is measured by helping others raise themselves.
To us the latter result is so much sweeter.

That is the difference.

From Alma Mater Vol. 1: The Midwest
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
Copyright © 2014 Clyde Aidoo

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Posted in Poetry

University of South Dakota Poem

*University of South Dakota*

On a mid-February day in the heart of mating season,
A Coyote approached with red and white adorned,
Not to hunt but to appeal to reason.
He knew
Love is often timid like a coy dog,
Until the right hybrid like a coydog,
The Yotes formed a band & made a pact,
Then jumped the broom like a game of leapfrog.
They met on South Dakota’s vermilion plains
And solidified this pact—near The Old Main.
Right in Danforth Chapel they said each vow—
With an ardent and tender howl.
The Coyote is sly, cunning, and dangerous,
He can rip open the heart with lethal tears,
Like when the Coyote told the beautiful stranger,
“Coyotes work best in pairs.”
And from that day forward they roamed as one,
In gentle habits as well as hunting Jackrabbits,
It takes a heavy heart to fill the hunger of a Coyote,
And in South Dakota, there’s no heart like a Coyote’s.
Twenty years have passed and these Coyotes still bleed
South Dakota Red and South Dakota White,
Now they have returned—not as students,
But as Coyotes—Husband & Wife.
They return to the Homecoming plains,
Beneath the first beams of their love’s great rays,
Though many years have passed, it all remains,
They still love these great
Dakota Days.

From Alma Mater Vol. 1: The Midwest
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
Copyright © 2014 Clyde Aidoo

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Posted in Poetry

South Dakota State University Poem

*South Dakota State University*

South Dakota carries frequent forecasts
that fall far below zero. Record-breaking winters
with severe snowstorms, blizzards, and whiteouts
that bend the mind to the chilling degree that even
South Dakotans have reservations about completing their reservations
To inhabit the SDSU reservation.
Welcome, New Jackrabbits,
Have no fear,
The Gate to Greatness—
Begins here.

It begins in Meadows North,
Meadows South,
Abbott and Brown Hall
At the mouth,
Through corn fields
Supple with loyal hue,
The yellow & blue
Will guide you through.
At the heart of the most ferocious climate,
The warmth that resides will help you climb it.
High enough to view faces from today and yesterday
During the celebration of Hobo Day.
Allow the Bummobile to be your snowmobile
To help you travel through our proud tradition,
The Coughlin Campanile will help inspire you
To reach the summit of life’s exhibition.
Ring the Bell! Cheer for South Dakota!
South Dakota State has a combusting engine
That lights a March through the snowy path,
In this fire
We gather the wrath;
Make Way
for
The Pride of the Dakotas.

From Alma Mater Vol. 1: The Midwest
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
Copyright © 2014 Clyde Aidoo

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Posted in Poetry

Ohio University Poem

*Ohio University*

These words can be found on the marker at the Ohio University Class Gateway:
“Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”
Well,
God knows that it is necessary to find happiness.
And the promise of our college experience isn’t dependent on the government and is not limited to just our education.
We encourage all graduating high-school seniors to come to Athens.
Our generation has been called the Voices of Promise,
So believe when we tell you your life will forever be changed.
But these moments won’t last forever.

So our mortality conflicts with our morality.

Now let’s party.

***

Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
These college girls—They Gett’nit.
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
The A-Town is Gett’nit.

Ohio is Gett’nit,
This is the Dream—
Go Get It,
We got Red Bricks, Green & White Cliques,
The A-Team—
We in it.
The Marchin’ Band—They gett’nit,
The most exciting band
In the business,
Lead the visitors to the Bursar’s cuz
They ’bout to get
The Business.
The Baker Center—
We in it.
Convocation Center—
We in it.
You the losing team,
We the winning team,
Check the final score:
YOU FINISHED.

Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
The A-Team is gett’nit.

Oh-Hi-Oh is gett’nit.
The Bobcats—
We in this.
We got the Athens pubs
The other schools are scrubs
The Party Lists:
We Win It.
Courtside—
We in it.
Lucky’s—
We in it.
If you think y’all can run with The Bobcats, then homie
Check yo’ fitness.
This party’s off the limits.
No cutoffs—
No Limits.
We stick together like Pawpurr’s flo’
Make me a Black Widow then po’ fo’ mo’,
Buzzed Up to Fucked Up then to Union
&
Hit the flo’.
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Biggest parties ever,
Call Guinness…
Wait, put that chick on hold, stud, first finish up yo’
Guinness!
Then top it all come Halloween
The world’s wildest block
YOU WITNESSED.

Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
The A-Team is gett’nit.
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—Let’s Get It.

Mill Fest—
We at it.
Palmer Fest—
Back at it.
What would be your school’s biggest party
Is to us
Just a Habit.
Bobcats—We At It,
Five-0—They’ve had it,
Tried to hose us down,
Can’t hold us down,
Fuck a violation—
Notepad it.
There’s a Palmer fire so let’s smoke now,
It’s about to
Go Down,
And you can take that pint down
if you old enough to
Vote Now.
We hotter than O’Betty,
And our grub is the best,
Eatin’ GoodFella’s, Big Mamma’s, then Mike’s Dogs: #Fest
Then it’s sex in apartments and all our dorm rooms—

#@*!Fest

In the Spring Time it’s the best time for the best fest:

#Fest

It’s mud, music, water guns, beach balls and alcohol,
Got Natural Light we on a Natural High no last call—
Drunk Fest.
It’s past 3:00 and we still ain’t finished,
You hear about
Ohio U,
and all our parties but
WE LIVE THIS.

Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
The A-Team is gett’nit.
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Live This.
After all the parties we’ll hold the diploma, sayin’, “Mom and Pop,
I Got It!”
And when you graduate you must go to Broney’s on Saturdays,
You Got It?

Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
The A-Team—We in it.
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Gett’nit
Ohio U—We Live This.

We live it up loud up in Athens, Ohio.
We live it up now cuz we ain’t promised tomorrow.

#GetIt

From Alma Mater Vol. 1: The Midwest
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
Copyright © 2014 Clyde Aidoo

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Posted in Alma Mater, Poetry

Ashland University Poem

*Ashland University*

Ashland University believes that every individual should have a voice,
And with this voice every Eagle should embark:
To leave an accent mark.

On your mark.

Go.

From Alma Mater Vol. 1: The Midwest
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
Copyright © 2014 Clyde Aidoo

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Posted in Alma Mater, Poetry

University of Dayton Poem

*University of Dayton*

Welcome to Dayton, Ohio—where man learned to fly.
Where the Wrights gave aviation creation
With brotherly union reaped through the sky.
At UD, we propel this model
As the blueprint of communion since 1913—
Providing an outline for all Flyers to follow
When the boys of St. Mary rebuilt this city.
Overflowing the Great Miami River—
We showed true
Teamwork springs victory.
We victor in games scheduled in the UD Arena,
then
Wash, Rinse, Repeat.
In road stadiums, our Flyers shut it down:
Control, Alt, Delete.
We land in The Chapel of the Immaculate Conception,
Where every Flyer receives a reception
of ethos inspired beneath the cupola—
Teaching the value of population resurrection.
Every heart should fuse with the life of Brown Street,
And exhilarate on the trails of our river bikeways:
This beautiful earth must inherit the meek.
We are Catholic brothers and committed lay people,
A family devoted to include…
Not to judge, impose, or sway people.
Welcome to Dayton, Ohio,
Where a family spirit
Will greet you;
You must reach halfway to find a better community,

We are very pleased to meet you.

From Alma Mater Vol. 1: The Midwest
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
Copyright © 2014 Clyde Aidoo

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Posted in Poetry

University of Cincinnati Poem

*Cincinnati*

Don’t believe us when we say that the Red & Black triumphs in
The Big East,
Or that the Bearcats are
Academic Beasts;
Don’t believe that there is a magic in our stance
&
In our dance.
Or that our contributions have helped
America Advance.
No,
Don’t believe that the Cincy experience—
Is worth
Every Student Fee,
No, No, don’t take it from me,
Just come to UC—
&
You’ll see.

No, don’t believe that Cincinnati is the
Queen of the West,
And that when it comes to college charm,
We do it the best.
Ignore our Alma mater when we claim
We are a fountain of youth;
And a towering
Rock of Truth;
And don’t believe that when challenges rain—
The Red & Black Will Reign.
No, No, don’t take it from me,
Just come to UC—
&
You’ll see.
Don’t believe that the Cincy experience—
Is worth
Every Student Fee,
No, No, don’t take it from me,
Just come to UC—
&
You’ll see.
And once you arrive you’ll instantly know…
Then
I’ll say

I told you so.

From Alma Mater Vol. 1: The Midwest
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
Copyright © 2014 Clyde Aidoo

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Posted in Poetry