From Alma Mater Vol. 1: The Midwest. Available Now!
*Western Illinois*
A Tri Sigma sophomore is in Waggoner Hall, sitting in Biology class…
As the professor lectures on the biogeochemical processes of ecosystems and the
communication of nerve cells, you’d think her chin would rest attentively on her fist
like “The Thinker…”
Instead her head tilts with her cheek in her palm,
In college, this is known as
“The Drinker.”
She is not a marble of deep thought, but is still hung-over at the thought
of how much alcohol the human body can consume.
Alas,
Tonight it’s Thirsty Thursday,
And she cannot wait to conduct another
Experiment.
Because after her sorority benefits thousands of children through the
Robbie Page Memorial, and
She and the Sigmas cram to ace another major exam,
It’s off to the beer garden on Campbell for a
Change of Pace,
&
As far as Adams Street—
it’s
Off to the Race…
To show that when it comes to the best
Midwest Parties:
Adams in Western Illinois
Is the place.
Like the contestants of the Mr. Greek University Pageant,
She and her sisters are more than Pretty Faces,
They’re purple violets that shed kindness with mild showers,
Then at night they storm the bars like wild flowers.
In lab she sits still as a
Stone deflated,
Her peers cannot observe it, but in fact:
She’s elated—
To be wearing a purple t-shirt reading Σ Σ Σ,
And to be in this Western family
Where every color
Is Related.
Follow ClydeAidoo.com for sample poems from the Alma Mater and Art of Mind series. You can purchase the newly released Alma Mater Vol. 2: The Northeast, a poetic celebration of the top universities of the Northeast below.
Original Clyde Aidoo 