Poetry of SJSU Students

From the California Normal School to SJSU Today

Introduction

Selected Poems

Winning Poems from the 2007 SJSU Legacy of Poetry Contest

• Written to reflect the spirit, style and/or life of Edwin Markham or Dr. Henry Meade Bland.

• "Labor Day, 2005"
  • First Place

Labor Day, 2005

By Peter Bosel

It’s Monday evening, Labor

Day.  I am dining at a mildly Italian

restaurant.  I like that I can’t order

a sandwich I have ordered pasta

but now am chewing on the house

salad (these mixed lettuce bits

are so dry!) oh why did I not get

the Caesar with its drenched

Romaine bites and abundant

croutons?  This abundance is

America , I think.

America you are

a dinner guest, frequent restaurant-

goer, and party to the hospitable host.

You sit near the end of a long table

with friends and not-so-friends,

cohorts and enemies alike, munching

from a bowl of croutons. 

America your setting is

a mess.  Crumbs and spices

sit in uncomfortable dampness.

Why America ,

when the waitress filled

your water glass, her eyes

distracted, her arm

indiscriminately pouring,

cool water rising, why America ,

did you not reach

out your hand more quickly?

What can be done, America ?

You already used your napkin

to silence the screaming

baby at the next table.

What can be done, America ?

You have grown wide, sluggish,

your arms and legs stick out

like dinner rolls.

What can be done, America ,

when all eyes pin their black

pupils to your inert frame?

What can be done, America ?

But to raise up your bulk

and stand unflinching

against every order

of the ceaseless wind.

• "Peripheral Vision"
  • Honorable Mention 

Peripheral Vision

by Rachelle Escamilla

When you drive into my town, look left.

Little girls and boys swirl with dolls and

trucks – spinning, spin, spiral.

When you drive into my town, look right.

Orchards. Apricot arms scratch the

mountain scalps. ¹Vamos con el sol.

When you drive into my town look left.

Cookie cut cul-de-sacs cloud the

hills – spreading, sprawled, eerie.

When you drive into my town, look right.

cows, branches y ²trabajadores bowing

backs to the sun. bright, hot, smoldering.

When you drive into my town, look left.

Astrobright lawns, cool pools pop like

Easter eggs in plastic, faux greens.

When you drive into my town, stop for

Him. Watch His new boots stick to the

blacktop begging turn back.  He holds his leaf-

blower tight. ³Andale. The lemon yellow sky’s

the limit. 

When you drive into my town keep going.

-------

1 Vamos con el sol… Let’s go with the sun

2 Trabajadores … workers

3 Andale … Hurry up!

Poems of the 1920's and 1930's

• Two selections from A Day in the Hills (September 18, 1926) - Competitive Poems

  • "Home-Coming"

    by Sibyl Croly Hanchett

       Winner of the First Prize in the group of thirty poems

    THERE’S a warm pressure in the gusts,

    Like blown velvet—ominously warm;

    A few pale leaves take their last ride;

    Dust rises like a whirl of moonlight;

    A tumble-weed is going somewhere

    In a great hurry;

    And the clouds have much business.

    Behind three squares of light

    Is peace

    And a sweet wood fire.

    Fasten the old doors securely—

    They must not remember being trees.

    And we will talk with the fire

    Until rain washes down the dark

    And lays us quiet.  

     

    • Additional information on Mrs. Hanchett from a State College Times article of 1926.

   

  • "Dirt"

     by Willard Maas

    YOU lie dead and cold—

    Unsuspecting.

    Who could fathom what you hold?—

    Bones of poets, castles, carved marble—

    A doll’s head.

    You lie dead and cold—

    Unsuspecting.

     

• "Impressions"

• From the first edition (June 1925) of The Quill, page 23 (a magazine of student works published by the English Club).

Impressions

by Mardel Sweeney

Everything we do, everything we say,

Makes a tiny ripple on the surface of the day;

Every time we frown, every time we smile,

Makes a great impression, that endures for quite a while;

We cannot call them back, and we cannot all forget,

So let us see that every day is one we’ll not regret.

• "To Henry Meade Bland"
  • This poem appeared in The Laureate’s Wreath – An anthology in Honor of Dr. Henry Meade Bland (1934), published by The Edwin Markham Poetry Society Chapter of the Poetry Society of London; page 63.

To Henry Meade Bland
(The Master of Song)

by Harry Hecker

Oh, you whom God has touched with fire

To know His moods, His might and love

And harp them on the muse’s lyre,

A melody of God and love!

You catch the music in the air,

The lilting birds, the humming bees,

The Water laughing, splashing fair,

The leaflets rustling on the trees;

Then, in the greatness of your heart,

The song of beauty that you see,

Your gift to others you impart

And teach us all to sing with thee!

• "This was written during an outburst of enthusiasm in one of Dr. Bland’s classes where I was a worshipful student."  (Harry Hecker)

Poems of 1900 - 1919

• "Class Poem"

• From the Normal Pennant, June 1908, Vol 10, No. 9

Class Poem 

By Sibyl Croly

The untried pathways of a hidden land

Lie at our feet,

As filled with hope and memories we stand,

Eager to greet

The future, and to shape with loyal hand

Our lives complete.

Our path may lead us through the level plain

Or Mountains blue;

Still we must find, who on that path would fain

Walk brave and true,

Purpose to guide and friendship to sustain

And will to do.

Additional Links

• Poets and Writers Coalition (SJSU Student Organization)

• SJSU Legacy of Poetry

• SJSU Campus Reading Program

• Washington Square article by Jody Ulate about SJSU's Legacy of Poetry (2007)

• Reading poetry

SJSU Campus Reading Program

Questions or comments? Please contact 

sjsureads@sjsu.edu