University of Northern Colorado Poem

Posted on December 17, 2024 by clydeaidoo — Leave a comment

*University of Northern Colorado*

Everywhere in Greeley, Colorado, there are Bears out there
Enjoying life:

Strolling along by the Platte River,
Taking ski trips with the pals,
Catching games at Nottingham field,
Or at another frat party, like the night before.

But then are some who choose to live differently.
Those who instead of recreations, decide to recreate themselves.
Bears who separated themselves from all the outside noise, and possibly left roommates
to
Go live in books.

And later realized just how smart of a move that really was.

Because when cramming in the Michener library,
Or pulling all-nighters, practically every night,
Some may view them as outcasts,
But

They are that much closer to finding a place in this world
That is far more permanent.

College is the time to live life,
But sometimes living is strictly internal,
It is wise to live in your books,
because
Her womb is eternal.

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

Tagged with: Art, Books, College, Colorado, Creative Writing, Literature, Poem, Poetry, Writing
Posted in Poetry

University of Denver Poem

Posted on December 17, 2024 by clydeaidoo — Leave a comment

*Denver University*

Outside Ritchie Center—Freshmen camp out
For hockey tickets, no matter the price,
Now begin years to gab & hang out:
Step out, Pioneers: Break the Ice.
Seven Hockey Titles—that’s a breakthrough
For the West where others settle for less,
Gold Pioneers—make their way through,
Then settle in a home reserved for the best.
The best hockey team in the western span,
In Magness Arena: Greatness lives,
Slashing through Tigers to claim the Gold Pan,
Showing all comers what greatness is:
A champion pedigree in hockey and skiing,
With more skiing titles than anyone else,
Giving our successors a value worth being,
And no one wants to be anywhere else,
But at home in these Rocky Mountains,
Denver, where the idea of a perfect retreat
Is at home in these Rocky Mountains,
A beauty from peaks here at your feet.
The sunshine of spring the poets tell of,
Colors rest spun from the yarn of fall,
The slopes where Pioneers show what they’re made of
Through inner gleams of Winter Carnival.
On campus for chili and joy in bundles;
The resorts where moments on air see birth,
Gasping at jumps, laughing at stumbles,
An avalanche of memories and measures of earth.
Pioneers have found a fertile world here on this western end,
When you leave out, oh, what stories you’ll tell,
Joy-ride through its pages then turn to the end:
Where you walk to the sound of the Victory Bell.

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

Tagged with: Books, College, Creative Writing, Denver, Poem, Poetry, Travel, Writing
Posted in Poetry

Colorado State University Poem

Posted on December 12, 2024 by clydeaidoo — Leave a comment

*CSU*

‘Tis Friday the 18th of April today,
A very great day to discuss the Rams,
Like KCSU & CTV’s programs,
We all have an open platform to say….

All the things we love about CSU:
Like the allée of the Oval and the changes
Found through the seasons where its color ranges
From winter white to the CS hue.

The Green and Gold that’s found all around
Main Campus, Hughes, by the lagoon,
This nature is ripe for Rams to bloom,
And spread these colors throughout Old Town.

Like Aggie Theatre—for indie rock,
The Alley Cat for brewed community,
The service that follows after CSUnity
Is given with a smile and a live stock
Of accounted Rams who’ll hike up the bluffs,
Then ram the space of Horsetooth reservoir,
With the same energy that leads Rams to score
In the Big Chowdown where we Grill the Buffs.

Cheer on with Cam in the name of Green love,
We whitewash the ‘A’ and Green always comes out,
To support the school in another Green Out,
Soaked in the warmest-pride-you’ve-ever-seen love.
This is love that’ll be forever seen,
Through today to classes yet to see life,
What we’ve lived here will make us stay for life
Forever Young: For-Ever-Green.

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

Tagged with: Art, Books, College, Colorado, Colorado State, Literature, Poem, Poetry, Travel
Posted in Poetry

Colorado School of Mines Poem

Posted on December 12, 2024 by clydeaidoo — Leave a comment

*CSM*

These E-Days of earth, environment, and energy
Convert the dull—to tools that embolden
Orediggers at Mines in a life that refines
The Blue & Silver: Welcome to Golden.
They pull full ore carts with this energy,
Freshmen spot the “M” and know that it’s Mines,
Then climb Zion—and find an inner chi,
They look down below and whisper, “It’s mine.”

The school made whole by The Mining Engineer,
Singing, “M-I-N-E-S!!”
This “Golden Tech” is at the mountaintop,
And where Orediggers discover their best.
All over campus: The Gang’s All Here:
A museum well known for a collection that rocks,
Brown Hall to study, then Stratton to hear:
Congrats, Orediggers, you’ve reformed the clocks.

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

Tagged with: Books, College, Colorado, Creative Writing, Literature, Poetry, Writing
Posted in Poetry

University of Southern California Poem

Posted on December 5, 2024 by clydeaidoo — Leave a comment

*USC*

Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey Hey hey-hey-heyheyhey-ahhhhhhhhhh…
S-O-U-T-
H-E-R-N!
C-A-L-I-
F-O-R-N-I-A!
SOUTHERN! CALIFORRRRR-NIA!

Let now the Conquest begin.

***

There’s a Perfect Day on the horizon.

It’s gloomy in UCLA after a loss that tailed the coin toss,
But here on the Brighter Side of L.A.
We look to complete the Perfect Day…

By clouding the name of Notre Dame.

It may never rain in Southern California,
But it always hails
Cardinal & Gold.

Befalling more Olympic medals and men’s NCAA Championships
Than any other school,
And a gold yield that floods the field:

11 National Titles & 36 Conference,
In the history’s press:
We hold the conference.
At the NFL podium in NYC,
The most draft picks have come from USC.

“With the first place in the NCAA race:
The facts select USC.”

We drink brew all night to celebrate this sound,
While the cross-town Bruins go during the 6th round.
And on home Saturdays it’s always found
That in the Coliseum it’s Buds all around.

Triumphant Trojans, Fight On!
And let the Spirit of Troy March On!
Across this field where our cleats pull the yard
On to the stars that illume the Boulevard.
And so it is written—beyond this Exposition
In the stars where Trojans will stay in their position,
The Team of USC is the gold unraveler,
They charge the open field with the trusty Traveler.
The lamppost gets kicked, and so do the Irish,
Them outshining our stars comes before an “I wish,”
For each time we score it’s push-ups by the point,
For every time we score, the other team gets the point,
And by the time the torch lights the start of the fourth,
It is already clear the champions have come forth.
Real stars break ground to release earthquakes
And a football scene giving 11 great takes.
Real stars reach the sky so their names can touch down
On the walk where film’s past can still reach & touch now:
The Red Carpet remnants of the Cinematic Arts,
The oldest film school still producing rolling starts.
Names who’ve walked over all the ephemeral feet,
Names like Will Ferrell walking 28th street.
Names like Will Ferrell who here walked among the Greek,
Old School Trojans lead the way that rebels seek.
Trojan units home go on a 9-0 run
For $1 shots and keep our #1 run
As the biggest party school here in California: Blaow,
Parties on weekdays and Greek Life is So Cal.
Bruins think they got our number but their paws can’t even dial,
They’re hung up on their past we stay fresh: Cali style.
The brightest stars in Cali are in the 213,
And the loudest conquests commence at USC.

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

Tagged with: Books, California, College, Poem, Poetry, Southern California, Travel, USC
Posted in Poetry

Pomona College Poem

Posted on December 4, 2024 by clydeaidoo — Leave a comment

*Pomona College*

The joys are countless—of life as a Sagehen,
But let us break it down to these 47 things.
Let us count this, and so we shall begin,
Here is the list of the 47 things:

The act of attending what is a New Ivy,
Being sucked into all this happiness,
J Tree, Walker Beach, such great weather,
What feet wouldn’t want to walk to this?

The Village, The Quad, The Farm,
Environmental Arts, a Great Program List,
And with Study Abroad and Internship Programs;
We even give chances to walk from this.

But they long for the return to the Beautiful Dorms,
And acclaimed dining halls like Frank and Frary,
Going to Snack, Eating under Prometheus,
Free Hugs and Free Kegs brought by the Keg Fairy.

Painting Walker Wall, Birthday Dunking
Makes everything feel soundly in order,
Love, The Arts, Jamba Juice:
Not necessarily in that order.

Ski Beach Day, Montgomery Roof,
Good friends and weekends at the Boot,
The Fountain, living in a tight-knit campus,
Then the student store we go to re-Coop.

The OTL club to go On the Loose,
South Campus Pool, the Tennis Courts,
The Gym, The Rose Hills Theatre,
A Capella and foods of different sorts.

Eureka Burger, Pita Pit, Yogurt Land,
Big Bridges, Little Bridges, Building Bridges:
Diversity welcomed to Claremont, California
In a school included among prestigious.

If you look closely enough, 47’s everywhere,
Like in each 24/7 computer lab,
The last two on the list is To Be a Sagehen,
And each day we are honored to have:
Counts as just
One of 47 Miracles.

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

Tagged with: Books, California, Creative Writing, Literature, Poem, Poetry, Travel, Writing
Posted in Poetry

UC Santa Cruz Poem

Posted on December 4, 2024 by clydeaidoo — Leave a comment

*UC Santa Cruz*

If you found a forest fire in the City on a Hill,
Would you then come out? Or try to put it out?
If I told you there’s Banana Slugs opposed to decompose,
Would you fade with no resistance? Or try to slug it out?
It’s pouring and that’s—just fine.
We’re high, it’s getting cloudy, and we’re happy on Tree 9,
Because the more it rains—the more grass grows,
And at First Rain, we wear no clothes,
And it’s all just organic as farm rows.
Here’s to another great 4/20,
And there won’t be another 20,
So pass that joint before this passes by.
Not unlike 19 and 18,
And all the years chopped down in between,
Someday we’ll see all this and have to say goodbye…
And in this haunted forest, with Slugs who swore they’d never leave:
I say let’s keep resisting:
In this Perfect Place to Die.

When their power is on, they try to shut us down.
But Slugs don’t go down swinging:
We don’t go down at all.
The power is on. So they can’t shut us down.
And when the system tries:
We stay lit like Fireflies.

We’re floating in the Meadow,
Taking bridges where we all go
Through ports of beauty in Redwoods,
That’s only fully understood:

From up here…

And up here,
Food tastes so much better,
The beauty now looks even better,
Come share this view of
Cruz Uprising.
We will choose to take the high way
To cruise the beauty found here each day
And from these trees she sure looks like
Monterrey Bay.
And though they always cut our forts down,
Our fortitude will always rebound,
And when they tell us we can’t pass,
We always fail to leave no record,
Tell us again we can’t come through,
Tell us again what we can’t do,
We’re at Porter more than ever before:

Now who’s the Broken Record?

We’re floating in the Meadow,
Taking bridges where we all go
Through ports of beauty in Redwoods,
That’s only fully understood:

From up here…

It’s all clear:

The All Clear

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

Tagged with: Books, California, College, Creative Writing, Literature, Poem, Poetry, Santa Cruz, Travel, Writing
Posted in Poetry

Humboldt State University Poem

Posted on December 3, 2024 by clydeaidoo — Leave a comment

*Humboldt State University*

Oh it’s a sunlit California afternoon in the middle of April,
And this car full of Humboldt State students
Cannot think of a better day to go on a long road trip.

They were on their way to the annual Coachella festival 12 hours away,
but with the mixtape blowing with different stages of the wind,
The concert has started early.

Four windows are rolled down
&
15 sprite fingers are out tickling the six-string of spring.
Five bodies are free bound
In the Crown Victoria and to the music they all sing.

12 hours never rolled by so fast.
Making it all the easier to press repeat.

Possibly the greatest part of listening to a beloved track is hitting repeat,
And perhaps the best part of a road trip among friends is knowing that
As much you may want to hit rewind, these wheels continue to roll forward…

Making this the ideal time to keep playing.

Each of these seconds feel so Live
and wired for the sound of conversations, comfortable silences, and stillness for the interceptions of wind and music.

No, 12 hours never rolled by so fast.
Making it all the easier to hit repeat.

The trip is now pulled into reverse and a new mixtape is put in the player.
Yes, the journey is usually the trip, but the anticipation of these Lumberjacks to arrive at their destination is very real.
As real as the moments in Muddy’s, Farmer’s Markets at the Plaza, and in the Quad
Where just a few people dance just as alive as the thousands upon thousands that plug Indio.

Moments in the tranquil forest where in the studio of nature, we find a new release.

There is no place as inspiring as a daily trip through the redwoods of Humboldt State.

And that is all the inspiration these roadsters need to
Hit repeat for another 12 hours
To return to the point where they belong;
The high point of the road weekend’s song
Where they crash back home.

Tagged with: Books, California, College, Creative Writing, Literature, Poem, Poetry, Travel, Writing
Posted in Poetry

University of San Francisco Poem

Posted on December 2, 2024 by clydeaidoo — Leave a comment

*University of San Francisco*

Change begins at USF. A road map that has encompassed
Giants of San Francisco like Bill Russell,
Rolling Stones like Charles Fracchia who have taken the same bridge as the tourists, photographers, and beatniks, each coming back changed…and some, like the students of USF,
Thanking the world for carrying such beauty.

When America takes the Golden Gate Bridge, have you ever wondered where they are going?
I mean beyond the town festivals and Painted Ladies that dress these districts.
For many who make this town their getaway,
that answer may remain shrouded.
But for these students who have found their stay,
They are going
To make change.

A trip that begins with the Jesuit values that carry social justice,
Majors of a nursing program who believe in the healing powers of
Saint Ignatius Church.
Young men and women who amnesty a global orientation
Beyond our cutting-edge art to an even newer start.

It starts here.

The belief that the destination to change is paved in Green and Gold. That the 6,000-plus students who every year begin from the Hilltop and leave to lend service to this community have left and returned to their dorms and apartments, but continue the exploration of what they have changed.
How they have changed.
Everyone has personal journeys, whether or not they stop to study the pictures. And USF is committed to remove as many detours and roadblocks from the outside world, so that each person can find themselves;
And so that America can find itself at a better place.
For years, USF students have altered this country’s landscape,
Students who left having changed the world’s photograph,
Then hands the camera over to the next class,
Where the world’s new capturers will
Take it from here.

Tagged with: Art, Books, California, College, Creative Writing, Poem, Poetry, San Francisco, Travel, Writing
Posted in Poetry

California State – Sacramento Poem

Posted on November 27, 2024 by clydeaidoo — Leave a comment

*Cal State Sacramento*

(Set to the Melody of “I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty)

Well I—Love Sac-Town.
Yes I—Love Sac-Town.
You can raise town costs and the rates like hell,
I’ll still—Love Sac-Town.

Tree Campus is our ground,
So Forrest—ran to town.
And we keep on runnin’ those Aggies out of town
As we—Stand our Ground.
And they—All Back Down.
(I Love Sac-Towwwwn)
Heyyyyyyyy, Hornets!
Keep all that Green & Gold Out!
(I Love Sac-Towwwwn)
Heyyyyy, I—will rep my town.
Cuz I Love—Sac-Town.

Well our—Teams all fight.
We’re the—Big Sky’s light.
And our ROTC is the best around,
They all—hold it down.
And We—Love Sac-Town.
(I Love Sac-Towwwwn)
Heyyyyyyyy, Hornets!
Keep all that Green & Gold Out!
(I Love Sac-Towwwwn)
Heyyyyy, I—will rep my town.
(I Love Sac-Town)
Cuz I Love—Sac-Town.

And we—love Downtown.
We are—highway bound.
With the K Street Mall and the Kings in town,
Hornets—love this town.
Yes we—Love Sac-Town

<20-Second Bridge Interlude>

……

Heyyyyyyyy, Hornets!
Keep all that Green & Gold Out!
(I Love Sac-Towwwwwn)
Heyyyyy, I—will rep my town.
(I Love Sac-Towwwwn!!)

Heyyyyyyyy, Hornets!
Keep all that Green & Gold Out!
(I Love Sac-Towwwwn)
Heyyyyy, I—will rep my town.
(I Love Sac-Town)
Cuz I Love—Sac-Town.
(I Love Sac-Town)
Yes, I love-Sac-Town.

Tagged with: Art, Books, Creative Writing, Poem, Poetry, Sacramento, Travel, Writing
Posted in Poetry

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