It's hard to believe that 10 weeks ago I started my second quarter at DePaul. It's even harder to believe how much can change in 10 weeks.
This quarter I was privileged enough to be in a Reading Poetry class, a simple English prerequisite that would allow me to enroll in more in-depth courses later in my DePaul career. This class was sort of my saving grace as it gave me time to breathe, reminded me that I love what I'm studying, and helped me grow as a writer, reader, and person on many different levels.
Below I've included a recording of myself reading Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art." I had to read this poem for a grade and I'm still not super enthused about the way I've read it, but I wanted to share. Bishop is a master of using classic form and style to create something completely new, and this poem is a great example of that.
I choose to read this poem for a number of reasons, but I chose to post it because it more or less sums up the struggles of winter quarter. I've lost a lot of ideas, motivation, and opinions in the last 10 weeks and I have truly discovered that loss in any form is hard to master.
As human beings, we lose something every day. But Bishop reminds us that the act doesn't necessarily prepare us for the bigger moments. As much as I wish I could start winter quarter again, the knowledge I've gained is important.
One Art
by Elizabeth Bishop
The art of losing isn't hard to
master;
so many things seem filled with the
intent
to be lost that their loss is no
disaster.
Lose something every day. Accept the
fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly
spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to
master.
Then practice losing farther, losing
faster:
places, and names, and where it was
you meant
to travel. None of these will bring
disaster.
I lost my mother's watch. And look!
my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses
went.
The art of losing isn't hard to
master.
I lost two cities, lovely ones. And,
vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a
continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a
disaster.
—Even losing you (the joking voice, a
gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to
master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.
