lol

Sunset

the late glow of a sunset
golden
shimmering;
incandescent

bathe me in your warmth
burn me in your intensity
close my eyes
and just let me be

I soar
faster, higher
gliding on your wings
of golden light

unadulterated euphoria;
turbulent passion
anger..sorrow..rapture... madness
anything-
just let me be

in the late glow of a sunset

Valentines day is everyday.

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Sugar is sweet
and so are you.

Four lines. Let us take a moment to explore these four lines. These four lines are an expression from the beating heart that pumps hopelessly romantic love around the circulatory system of the soul. Roses are red....it's a matter of fact. You don't deny a force of nature. Roses are red. Simple, yet profound. Violets are blue....more of the same. Just with that little extra pzazz. Sugar is sweet....how could it be anything else? One thinks sugar, one thinks sweet. No two ways about it. So, here's the good part (you can wake up now) you are all that. And more. Your beauty is simple. Yet profound. My love, too, is like that for you. Undeniable. Unquestionable. Just as roses are red. Just as violets are blue. Just as sugar is sweet. So is my love for you. It's a fact.

Sci Li - CIT hybridization

Consider the Science Library, which has 5 medium energy ( with the energy caused by classes, work, and lab) weekday orbitals and 2 low energy weekend orbitals. In order that the intrepid student molecule achieve optimal bonding with the Sci Li, that is, maximal studying output with mininal energy input, the student must bond with the low energy weekend orbitals first.

However, a closer look at the low energy weekend orbitals available at the Sci Li will reveal that these orbitals have nodes which will not allow any student-Sci Li bonding to take place. These nodes are in full effect Saturdays after 10pm, and Sundays before 12pm. In addition, the latter most medium energy weekday orbital has a node after 10pm.

It is clear that optimal student-Sci Li bonding cannot take place at the afore-mentioned nodes, and so it becomes necessary that another studying place, the Center for Information Technology be involved.

Consider the CIT, which has 5 high energy weekday orbitals ( with the energy caused by rooms being occupied for lectures) and 2 low energy weekend orbitals. Contrary to the Sci Li, the CIT's low energy weekend orbitals have nodes that are spaced further apart, with a node on Saturdays after 2am and Sundays after 2am, leaving more room for student-CIT bonding.

Therefore, mixing the medium energy weekday orbitals at the Sci Li and the low energy weekend orbitals at the CIT will result in a Sci Li - CIT hybird to which the noble student molecule will be free to bond with optimal results.

I am a fool

Silence

I am back
here
back in the same place I was before
wondering
sighing
dying inside
so I question myself
how did I get here?

must I keep coming back
again and
again
like a dog
to its own vomit?

questions - every one of them unanswered
silence
silence
silence

but even so
spring comes
soon after winter

dawn comes
soon after dusk

and the sun bids goodbye to the moon

Black History Month

Don't call me black. I am African-American.
My great grandfather was oppressed. My grandfather was oppressed
I come here, and you tell me
I am oppressed.
I will stand before you and I will tell you about my oppression-
Because I am oppressed.

Don't call me black. I am African-American.
I will learn about my heritage
and so I will major in africana studies
to learn my roots
I will become a message to those of you that would oppress me-
beat me down
tear me down
wear me down.

Don't call me black. I am African-American.
Don't hate on me.
Don't hate on my people.
I will make you see the difference-

Don't call me black. I am African-American

Sophomore Slump

Hooray for friends, and hot Selorm cooked west african stew on rice. Hooray for central heating. Boo to the snow. Boo to the distance between the Sci Li and my room.

I'm back. Back and ready for part deux. Hey, one more semester before I need to seriously consider taking the infamous Mcat....and ye gads, medical school. (Do I want it?) Right now I can groan my way through 3 months of Organic chemistry. What gives right?

Classes, classes classes. Here's that list (in order of preference) which I know you are all dying to see:

BN102 - Principles of Neurobiology
MU68 - Ghanaian Drumming
SI20 - American Sign Language
CH35 - Organic Chemistry

So there you have it. The earth, my dears, continues to rotate on its 23 and a half degree angle, despite one B in statistics. The moon, my dears, continues to shine. (At night)

What sophomore slump?

2005

Hail Mary
Full of grace
the Lord is with thee
Blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus
Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of death

Amen

I need to drink water at the gym

Today was a diamond of a day. During the critical hours that promise a tomorrow on this side of time, it came to me in a sudden epiphany that I had the grand total of 2 unused meal credits to my name, and immediately I knew just what to do with them. Ye gad, it was off to The Gate with me. I gathered up my stuff from deep in the science library, escaped the clutches of the textbook, passed the jaws of impending finals and walked happily up (down?) my beloved Thayer street.
5 - 8 minutes later, and you would have found me at The Gate.
In The Gate I walked, bagel, cream cheese and water in mind - card in hand, ready to send those credits to late night snack heaven.
But alas, even diamonds need to be helped to shine. I am dismayed by this system. The poor defenceless (and by that, you know I mean quite the opposite) cashier cannot handle the burden (the immense energy required to raise the arm twice is just too, too much) of swiping a starving students' card twice in order to claim what is rightfully theirs. The now emaciated and famished student must practically leave The Gate with one purchase and return again, if second purchase is necessary.
Bagel, cream cheese or water? I made my decision, ladies and gentlemen, and the water was duly replaced. But damnit, I need to drink water at the gym.

It hurts my eyes

Brother. You knew me. You knew me and you said nothing. You sat there and you watched them come. You watched them come and take me away. They showed up that time when we were sitting by the fire, just the two of us, and they dragged me away and you said nothing. You didn't even look at me brother. You kept staring into the fire and my eyes were on you. They were on you all the way, brother - all the way into this...

And the fire! It hurts my eyes, so I look away. I keep my eyes fixed to the ground and I remember how you looked into the fire. I remember how you let them take me away and you said nothing.

So I ask myself. And then I ask again, but the fire brother, it hurts my eyes.

It hurts my eyes.

The immigrant voice

Back home to here na long long way.
The picture of here from home is so different from the wilderness I de see night and day.
This na America with homeless for every corner
that I think I de a numberless world?
Where all the fine fine things in that picture:everybody dress kamkpe that I think
na angels, Hollywood Heaven they misspell?
Now I work standing so te for minimum wage, get dollars for one hand and give them out for the other.
I come back from work so dead I can't eat or sleep and before dawn I don get up to begin another slave day.
When I reply their letters from home saying here no be what they think they see for their minds, they no gree with me and call me lie-lie man: "You de already there and you no want us to come."
I know my people hate me for telling the truth.
Wetin they see geographers de call am mirage--America na big photo-trick to me.
If say big thief no boku for home and they no give man chance to live softly, America no be place to live for one whole day.
The streets de explode kpa-a kpa-a like Biafra,
dead body no de fear anybody; you no know whether the person saying "Hi!"want to shoot, rob, or rape you.
Neighbour no de, friend no de except them dog; you de for your own like craze-man de pursue dollar which no de stay for your hand--they say na capitalism, when dollar de circulate, circulate without rest.
When somebody don naked for you for daylight, nothing de the big boast of beauty for the cloth e take cover crawcraw and eczema.
No be as e be for the picture they don retouch--beggar, thief, poor poor, all dem de boku.
Sometimes I cry my eyes red for night in bed.
Wetin my eye don see for here pass pepper make me de prepare to go sweet home.
If God de, make e punish them wen drive me from Africa come hell.

November 8th, 2004

So it happened.

Now what?

Grim Reaper

We are living to die

Bitter-bitter

In the desert I saw a man
naked, bestial
who
squatting upon the ground
held his heart in his hands
and ate of it
I asked
"Is it good friend?"
He said
"It is bitter-bitter."
"But I like it."
"Because it is bitter. And because it is my heart"

Ode to a roomate on her birthday

For roomates who will put up with you. For friendship, for the days that I set the wrong time on the alarm clock. For trips to the gate, friday night movies at the providence place mall. For smiles. For laughter.
Hot chocolate at dunkin donuts in the middle of a snowy night. Trips to Mass, staying over with only the thread on my back, double cheeseburgers at Micky Dees - no meat and no pickles please. Plays every month. Hints of a payed-for-by-the-grownups dinner afterwards. Cheesecake with oreos in it. Yum.
For mid-term time. For the kind of patience you don't find everywhere. For being mad but understanding. Frustrations of work, disappointments after exams.
For every routine. V-dub for dinner. Sometimes lunch. Before sleep time tv watching. For sharing. For caring.
For being you.

It was a very bad day

One day I woke up slightly late. Nothing was where I had put it the night before. I ran through a shower and got ready for class. Then I couldn't find my keys. I searched all over the room. They had magically disappeared from where they were the night before. I was sad. I needed my keys. At last I found them. They were under some books.
I reached the door to the outside and it was raining. So I had to go back to my room and get my coat. This was good because once I was there I realised I had forgotten my card. So I put my card in my pocket. Then I left my room. I went to get some coffee because people drink that when they're in class. They say it keeps them I awake. I think it keeps me awake too. I bought my coffee and things were getting better. Then I dropped my coffee mug. All the coffee spilled out onto the sidewalk. I was sad. I needed my coffee.
I got to class just in time. My seat in the very front row was empty! I rushed forward to sit. Then someone cut before me. They sat in my seat. I was sad. I needed my seat.
It was a very bad day.

Past

Give me back what I had before
I want it
I need it
let me feel what I felt before
I crave it
I yearn for it
please
come back to me

Evolution and T.As

The elusive Teaching Assistant (Tutor, etc) is a cunning creature. The common practice of searching high and low is a labor that yields no fruit, as he craftily remains undiscovered, despite several attempts.
Emails, voice mail and other such handy means of communication so useful when tracking down other ordinary species do not produce results either. The elusive T.A (tutor, etc) remains in hiding. It is also a proven fact that at the times when the T.A (tutor, etc) is needed the most; at the crucial intersection resulting from an unanswered question holding a path that surely will lead to unknown turtuous and horrific death a.k.a an appearance of that question on the next days exam - the elusive T.A (tutor, etc) is nowhere to be seen.
Frantic searches, panicked glances are darted hither thither, but in vain. The elusive T.A (tutor, etc) has once again proven his insidous tact.
Years of T.A (tutor, etc) evolution have culminated to produce a species that is perfection itself. The elusive T.A (tutor, etc) is a connoisseur of concealment, a master of masquerade, a dilettante of disguise. If the evolution that produced the T.A (tutor etc) has any short-coming it is the review session. However, even in this, evolution has formed a counter attack.
T.A conspirators abound.
These are the creatures that come to review sessions with the intention of carelessly using up valuable time. They crowd the coveted front row and ask only the most obvious of questions. It is clear from the T.As' (tutors', etc) exhaustive response of what could have been a two word answer that they are in it together.
However, the time is coming when there shall be a revolution. The many manipulated and vulnerable students seeking an A on the exam are vulnerable no more. Together, they are forming ranks and will strive to seek a better and more suitable environment for the ubiquitous last-minute-question-before-the-exam.
Students of Brown unite!

Haiku

bugger it, can't sleep
hours in the quiet night
same old music on
studying chem tomorrow

staring at the wall
nyquil work your sweet effects
tossing and turning
what is the meaning of life?

dawn soon approaches
circadian rhythm lost
nocturnal am I
anguishing the night away