Hofstra University Poem

Posted on September 16, 2024 by clydeaidoo — Leave a comment

*Hofstra University*

The red morning sky brings Gold,
White,
&
Blue,
A sky falling with “Dutchmen,”
Bring the wooden shoe;
For this name of the Dutchmen
Flies no more,
It’s with a new Purpose
The Pride Shall Roar.
In a spring fest, Hofstra
Goes Dutch,
Through Italy and Ireland
The senses touch—
Experiences of culture
along New York,
emanating in the air
along Newport.
On deck, we board destinations
of the globe,
And dwell in our Films
& Theatre in
Globe;
Lodging a Greek Life
that like David bares all:
our spirit of Pride
from the gates of fall.

We build floats and bonfires
to lead us Home,
And resist the departure
Of what we’ve known;
But know there’s a world
With red skies of dawn
That we can all reach
When known
James Caan.

We will leave the Misery of defeat
as foreign,
And retain the habits that tour
Occurrence,
Italy, Ireland, all
U.S.A.,
Wherever there is beauty—
We’re on our way;
Hofstra is a world where we all
Take Pride,
And the purpose of world-taking
Takes the steadfast Pride.
The purpose of world-taking takes the steadfast Pride,
The purpose of world-taking takes the steadfast Pride.

From Alma Mater Vol. 2: The Northeast
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
Copyright © 2015 Clyde Aidoo

Tagged with: Art, Books, College, Creative Writing, Education, Hofstra University, Literature, New York, Poetry, Writing
Posted in Poetry

St. John’s University Poem

Posted on September 16, 2024 by clydeaidoo — Leave a comment

*St. John’s University*

“’Tis better to give than to receive.”
In this season of giving, the
white winter flakes dress a sweater of
inner warmth outside St. Augustine Hall
for the viewer. The wind is frosty—but shileding
of the nature of this tradition where the snow
brings bodies together.
Within the parameters of St. John’s University
and indeed out into
Queens, Manhattan, & All New York,
To the patterns of Christmas:
We Give.

We give the Bread of Life to the ailing
and underprivileged through
a food pantry & true goods
Rushed to the immobile.
We make Midnight Runs to
Shelters like St. Nick’s like St. Nick—
With red sacks of bundling that share
our school colors. In the struggle against
community downpouring, we are
The Storm Front
of bountiful outpourings.

We also give on campus:
Freshmen receiving free laptops upon entrance,
Live music & coffee at the DAC—where Johnnies
Can enjoy a cup of Joe.
Inside MSG, with assists from
Mark Jackson, Chris Mullin, and coaches like
Carnesecca & Lapchick—
We have given our school a history to be proud of:
A place on the Top 10 list of college basketball’s
Most winningest teams.

The Red Storm takes
The World’s Greatest Arena then
Plunges the World in a program that
Services places like New Salem, Lourdes, and Panama.
Back home we recognize that for some—this season
is often the loneliest,
so at Ozanam Hall we are always
Giving time back to the elderly.

The Ronald McDonald House of Long Island
helps alleviate the pain of children who
suffer, by lifting some of the struggle from those they love most.
And at Christmastime we sponsor families of hardship by
Providing to those whose hopes were low:
The returned gift of hope,
That continues to give without furlough.

Christmas is a time to cherish the
Vincentian values,
and the Christmas wish found in the
Miracle of St. John’s—
Where we Give and we also Receive,
but we
never
Take
for granted.

From Alma Mater Vol. 2: The Northeast
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
Copyright © 2015 Clyde Aidoo

Tagged with: Books, College, Creative Writing, Education, Literature, New York, Poetry, St. John's University, Writing
Posted in Poetry

Syracuse University Poem

Posted on September 13, 2024 by clydeaidoo — Leave a comment

*Syracuse*

Northwest of Orangetown, New York,
Traveling east of a town called Orangeville,
You will come upon
Syracuse, New York:

Welcome to Orange Nation.

***

There’s an Orange progressive spill
That’s Radioactive.
The contagion is the Syracuse thrill
Going Retroactive.
History’s reshaped
inside
Orange Nation;
In Syracuse, New York,
Where we claim
This Nation.

Breaking down the Times of New York,
That’s News,
Discussions in these top-level buildings,
That’s Views,
The D.O. print is Syracuse
World News,
The North Campus Quad is where
The Orange runs through.
Said
The North Campus Quad is where
The Orange runs through,
In the House of Orange
only
Orange Comes Through,
In Syracuse,
Orange is all we see,
Orange channels through our campus—
CitrusTV.

The Place of Remembrance:
The Orange lives in it,
This Orange Nation,
Yeah,
We in it,
At the Carrier Dome—
The Orange gets in it,
Now we goin’ off…

Code Orange.

Carrier is goin’ off…
Code Orange,
Blow the roof off the dome, blow it off,
Go Orange;
We got 35 thou’ goin’ off,
Code Orange.

This Orange Nation,
Yeah,
We in it,
At the Carrier Dome—
The Orange gets in it,
A debate of better Northeast teams:
We end it.

Lacrosse Champions Eleven Times:
Count ’em up,
Led by #Deuce-Deuce
that’s right,
Double Up,
On field it’s 44s that’s another
Double Up:
Davis, Little, Brown,
Knuckle up.

In hoops we got the ’03 Champs,
Go ‘Melo,
When Orange takes the court
Y’all streak
Goes yellow,
While our streak of 43
winning seasons
Goes, “Hello.”

43 teams in a row—
That’s the record,
35 thou’ in one house,
That’s a record,
We got the best fans in college hoops,
That’s on record.

Otto’s Army stands and claps till we score,
And when the thunder slams,
The louder we roar,
The best college stadium’s
The House of Orange,
We blow the Dome off like nukes:

That’s Code Orange.

This Orange Nation,
Yeah,
We in it,
An M-Street Bar?
The Orange comes in it,
The best state parties?
Syracuse wins it.

Syra-Syracuse Parties—
Get into it,
Syra-Serious Parties—
Get into it,
Name the Frat Row House—
Bet we all went to it.

Join the Comstock parties
and drink in jest,
This row leads to the blast of the year—
Mayfest.

Here’s to a great year,
Let’s drink to Mayfest,
This is the Showcase of Drinking,
Let’s drink through Mayfest,
Here’s to next year,
Let’s drink till next fest!

Drinking in front of cops
without an arrest?
Only in April—
At Mayfest!
Like our Army these shots go
Straight to the Dome,
And the best part?
The cops leave us alone!

Let’s go to the Row every week,
Go Orange,
Parties ’round the clock,
Talkin’
Clockwork Orange,
This a nation’s tribute
Call this piece
Ode Orange,
Get in the party,
Say the code,

#CodeOrange

From Alma Mater Vol. 2: The Northeast
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
Copyright © 2015 Clyde Aidoo

Tagged with: Art, College, College Life, Creative Writing, New York, Poetry, Syracuse, Syracuse University, Writing
Posted in Poetry

SUNY-ESF Poem

Posted on September 10, 2024 by clydeaidoo — Leave a comment

*SUNY—ESF*

On the voyage to a clean environment,
ESF has Oaks who lead the way,
A cutting-edge college for our planet’s maintenance,
Guarding creation, Grazing astray.
Aboriginal we are—with the sole path
of environmental study & all its sciences,
Tilling the mind until we strike the pipeline,
Unearthing nature’s treasured appliances:

Retreats to Cranberry Lake in the summer,
The parks of New York—a gift from God,
Explore what leads souls to parts unknown,
But do not ever cross the Quad.
We’re befrienders to our Syra-neighbors,
With visits to the Orange in the Carrier Dome,
Then we go back to the green of the forest,
To find Mother Nature & carry her home.
ESF is more than a factor of results,
We, in essence, have become the cause,
Assuring the world spins to where love begins,
With a new model the Oaks have caused.
Come join the cause—for the selfish reasons,
So the betterment can turn the best of both worlds:
When you improve the self at ESF,
That, in turn,
Improves your world.

From Alma Mater Vol. 2: The Northeast
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
Copyright © 2015 Clyde Aidoo

Tagged with: Books, College, Creative Writing, Literature, New York, Poetry, SUNY-ESF, Writing
Posted in Poetry

Cornell University Poem

Posted on September 10, 2024 by clydeaidoo — Leave a comment

*Cornell University*

The bells of McGraw are the air of Cornell,
Every breathing form chimes in.
The Big Red is in our veins
and our song—
&
Every beating heart climbs in.
Cornell gathers as one
in concert,
For Odysseys on the land of Ithaca;
In unison we sing the Cornell name,
and like our architects—the song builds

To the high points of Bradfield, Milstein,
the Johnson Museum—
Architecture that has the nation singing the praises
of the constructive minds
this program raises.
Like the pillars of Victorian and gothic—we align,
Mapping construction’s apex—by design,
Our forward progress is one that’s breaking:
News, molds, bounds, and grounds;
We delivered journalism to college degrees,
Reshaped engineering to model what’s found:
A reflection of catharsis throughout this town,
In landmarks like Sage, where founders
Rest Sound
Knowing their broad charity will give on,
And they, and our traditions, will live on.

Cornelliana sings of our amore,
It seeps & keeps—the red core,
A tradition of fire that grows each day,
Up to the height of year’s end:
Slope Day.
Cornelliana carries our campus in link,
With wins carried in tow on Lynah rink,
This wide student body shares the same red wagon,
Spirits lifted and moving like the Cornell Dragon.

The fire of our chorus—sounds in our bells,
The song of our spirit—each student exhales,
We breathe this fire that vanquishes hell,
Found in this heaven—
All hail,
Cornell.

From Alma Mater Vol. 2: The Northeast
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
Copyright © 2015 Clyde Aidoo

Tagged with: Art, Books, College, Cornell University, Creative Writing, Education, Literature, Poetry, Writing
Posted in Poetry

Columbia University Poem

Posted on September 9, 2024 by clydeaidoo — Leave a comment

*Columbia University*

Our Alma Mater,
Let us address thee.
At your ivy threshold, the blue academy of
New York’s finest,
We alert the presses of your honors & fill the news of your highness.
Columbia Daily Spectator, monthly fills of Blue & White, we maintain our esteemed history with the Current, and wide releases from this literary Mecca.
This is our nation’s Mecca; and like our city, we make good hosts to today’s world leaders where free speech has a forum, and we make a home for tomorrow’s world leaders, an exemplary model of United Nations in a manifold circle ensuring the say for a global community is circa yesterday. We took the route of Columbia—
New York’s #1 Subway
of
Engineering Entrepreneurs who tally into
the Silicon Alley. The leaders that give the Big Apple its starch began at Lerner Hall with the First Year March. Freshmen march on to become the song and dance of the Varsity Show,
and light the stage like College Walk before they go.
And 40 days before goodbye,
They grab a cold 40,
40s on 40 until the night becomes early.
In the days to come we walk the steps
which we’ve become fond,
the Urban Beach of sun and fun that
froze our warm bond.
Now up the Low Steps we reach our Alma Mater,
and in her crown and grown,
She’s as divine as she ever was.

You are already adorned with laurels, and glow with knowledge and golden wisdom, but we shall continue to wrap you with the world’s most Nobel Prize winners to complement your jewels on 29 Heads of State.
Sit still as we decorate you with Academy Award winners, Supreme Court Justices, and the lasting touch:
All the blended colors of
New York City;
Our Alma Mater,
Let us dress thee.

From Alma Mater Vol. 2: The Northeast
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
Copyright © 2015 Clyde Aidoo

Tagged with: Art, Books, College, Columbia, Columbia University, Creative Writing, Literature, New York City, Poetry, Travel, Writing
Posted in Poetry

Rutgers University Poem

Posted on September 6, 2024 by clydeaidoo — Leave a comment

*Rutgers—New Brunswick*

Scarlet Knights,
We
Take New Brunswick!
And with the Raiders & Raptors
We make New Jersey!
Inside the
The State University of New Jersey,
We’ve arrived at the floodgates of
college life.
With 60,000 Knights in the Rutgers cavalry,
it’s unquestioned:
R-U
Is Ready.

***

R-U Rah Rah!
R-U Rah Rah!
Hoo-Rah! Hoo-Rah!
Rutgers, Rah!
Upstream, Red Team!
Red Team, Upstream!
Rah! Rah!
Rutgers, Rah!

This calls the unbridled charge of RU,
Are You Ready?
Hoo-Rah! To the field is our crew;
Opposition: Not Ready.
In the record books
we are college football’s home team,
in its first game,
Princeton got creamed!
Two points back then
is converted now
to a blowout,
We own the Cannon,
Scarlet Fires: Tigers smoked out.
The popping sound is still
ringing through:

R……U

Scarlet Knights now invade the Big Ten,
Headed upstream is the nobleman tin,
Making advance in the Land Discovery,
In the largest school repository.
In research, the Knights take on disease,
And by night, we party as we please:

The night is
R-U
Ready.

And yes, we’re ready
for
Main and Union Street,
To Frat Row parties to yup it up with freshies,
Where the boy/girl ratio is always 1 to 3.

R…U…
(Drop)
Fucking Kidding Me?

That’s the Rutgers expression
When males see it’s only Knights—
with breast plates allowed
&
It’s back to lonely nights.

To Douglass the Knights go!
They begin the panty raid!
Maidens—Everywhere,
They spread out like marmalade.

Knights get a kiss by the lake
&
submerge in Passion Puddle,
And over at the Bridge,
lovers merge into a cuddle.

When new blood gets in Rutgers,
Scarlet happy dance—the party’s on,
And for the next four years,
College Ave.—
Dance Marathon.

Rutgers is New Jersey,
The state comes out—
Rutgers Day;
And though they canceled Rutgersfest,
The streets fill—
Anyway.

Where else can you find The Grease Trucks?
Fat Sandwiches,
Gimme some;
“Fat Cats,” “Fat Darrell,”
“Fat Bitches,”
Yum-Yum.
The “Bitches” went to “Beaches,”
And we at Bishop Beach—
Show & Tell;
Cut-up from the Rec,
Fresh with even tone—
GTL.

Ready for another party
at Delta Phi
with that jungle juice,
With stories worthy of the Targum,
Hung out all night—
Stretched the noose.
When we claim the best,
We don’t stretch the truth,
R-U is Jersey’s sacred youth,
It’s unity—a collective group,
On Unity Day—
We bring the proof.
We’ve found our home.
Have you?
We bring the noise.
Do you?
At Rutgers,
We’re all one,
New Jersey—
We’ve all won,
We’re at the college peak:
R-U

From Alma Mater Vol. 2: The Northeast
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
Copyright © 2015 Clyde Aidoo

Tagged with: Books, College, College Life, Creative Writing, Literature, New Jersey, Poetry, Rutgers, Travel, Writing
Posted in Poetry

New Jersey Institute of Technology Poem

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

*NJIT*

Up the grand staircase of Eberhardt Hall—
The larger-than-life landmark of NJIT,
A Class of ’85 Physics major passed the railing of black walnut
and beheld his greatest discovery.
Ten years after his final science assignment,
He found that it is not only the astronomers
who depend on the alignment of the stars.
This ten-year reunion spurred a new beginning
from functions only then fully awakened.
An Alumni Weekend offering a beneficiation
of the Cosmos,
allowing the unknown to process then extract life.

The Biogenesis.

His discovery had made contributions
inside Guttenberg a decade ago,
a true product of the sciences,
and on this night it was the physicist’s
beautiful discovery
That also found him.

The physicist left the reunion
With this discovery that escaped
Him during his four-year tenure.
With an amorous equipoise,
They walked out together
to the wonders of love.
Today, twenty years later,
Their creation is in the
MFC cleanroom,

Depositing a life’s work with discoveries of his own.

Tagged with: Books, College, Creative Writing, Literature, New Jersey, NJIT, Poetry, Writing
Posted in Poetry

Seton Hall University Poem

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

*Seton Hall*

Steadying oneself on flooded sails,
then calming a crew headed
towards impending doom,
Helping the heads bow at the fore to pray…

P.J. Carlesimo taking over the ship of a program
on the verge of collapse,
and rebuilding with the sum
of all parts until it reached the
brink of the champion’s gold…

A pitcher reminding a team that faces a large deficit,
That it takes more than
one individual stepping up to the plate at a time,
but a band of Pirates who board the same goal,
before an obstacle can wash away…

That’s Leadership.

A house unwavering in letting out
Congressmen, senators,
Federal judges & governors…

A School of Diplomacy that hosts a forum
of World Leaders who speak to the audience
about change,
so that someday they can change places…

Studying from night to day in President’s Hall
as catalytic converters of mental darkness
with emissions of light found on the papers
turned in…

That’s Scholarship.

Doves flying out from the
basement of Boland
into soup kitchens on Thursdays
&
Onto the community each Saturday…

Building a house
for wandering youths and
teenage mothers…where new
hope is birthed with Raphael’s Life…

Volunteering wherever there is need:
El Salvador, Haiti, The nursing home of White House,
and in our cove of need—South Orange, New Jersey…

That’s Service.

Greeks gathering in April
on the Green for BBQ and laser tag
and for a week of solidarity…

Friendly competition in Land Olympics
Where sport meets school cheer,
And the result is a pyramid of colors
that clashes not…

A week where leaders, scholars, and servers
commingle, and all these different letters
translate the same message:

That’s “Brotherhood…”
and
that is
Seton Hall.

Tagged with: Art, Books, College, Creative Writing, Literature, New Jersey, Poetry, Writing
Posted in Poetry

Stevens Institute of Technology Poem

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

*Stevens Institute of Technology*

When the word “Innovation” is used at
Stevens Institute of Technology,
It is not just to state what has come out this institution,
but to remind today’s world just where it came from:

the creators of tomorrow,
world leaders making way,
beginning in a capital where
future entrepreneurs get a return on
their investment
at a rate that outpays
98% of the competition.

This is where Innovation grows
with interest,
and
with creative cultivation—
We’ve reached the highest point of Hoboken,
and are always configuring the parameters of the
Unlimited.

Stevens is a classroom that transcends the labs
and the graphs to find the point;
in cross-functional terms
We Solve for Y,
Finding answers where applications are not in a
textbook,
but are waiting with the imperative
of the outside world.

We are
People in Motion
like Charles Stewart Mott,
building solar homes
with our energy,
so that mothers of three can inhabit
in the disruptive vision that Ducks lived in.
Like our builders of the beams we are always
making room,
and at the top of Hoboken,
the view is exceptional.
Stevens Institute is where Innovation
transfers like in-state credits
&
In the bi-currents of the global solar panel,
We are the electricity.
We have landed
“Through adversity to the stars,”
with belief that tomorrow doesn’t come
through sleep,
It rises from the
restless…
And is
Ours to Create.

Tagged with: Art, Books, College, Creative Writing, Literature, New Jersey, Poetry, Stevens Institute of Technology, Writing
Posted in Poetry

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: