Routines

Last Thursday I attended my first English learning community event of the semester. I have not been able to make it to very many of them, which is really quite a shame, because they can be pretty fun! This time, Redeemer's English faculty hosted a poetry reading by Tom Wayman, a Canadian poet and University professor who writes a lot about life in the work force. Wayman was a very sincere, friendly and honest speaker. His poems about monotonous factory jobs and the drudgery of a 9 - 5 work day were very clever and most importantly, very relate-able (especially since I, like many others, have suffered through some pretty boring Summer jobs).

Speaking of summer jobs -- the school year is coming to a close very soon (only a month left!) and the prospect of finding steady work is weighing on the minds of many students. I think everyone will be ready for a change of pace, but there are parts of the Redeemer student lifestyle that I'm really going to miss! I have enjoyed a lot of my classes this semester and just being able to socialize with my friends at intervals during the day for coffee and lunch dates has been a real treat. Those chairs by the mini Williams Coffee Pub have served me well. It has been an exciting and challenging year for me, and I can only hope that next year is as good.

And now, I will leave you with the first verse of a poem by Tom Wayman. Check out his website if you want to read the rest.

Hopefully his poem makes getting up tomorrow a little bit easier!

Routines
by Tom Wayman
Did I Miss Anything? Selected Poems 1973-1993. Madeira Park, B.C. : Harbour Pub., c1993.

After a while the body doesn't want to work.
When the alarm clock rings in the morning
the body refuses to get up. "You go to work if you're so keen,"
it says. "Me, I'm going back to sleep."
I have to nudge it in the ribs to get it out of bed.
If I had my way I'd just leave you here, I tell it
as it stands blinking. But I need you to carry your end of
the load.