clipped from writersalmanac.publicradio.org Most of my students here are very poor.
I seldom see them in the pubs: they
Cannot really afford the prices.
As winter hits they have to decide whether
To spend their shillings on the coin-operated heaters
Or on food.
I suspect that heat often wins—you can
Freeze to death quicker than you will starve.
Their incentive is that they will presumably
Have more comfortable lives if they survive
The minimalist conditions of college.
The government gives them a small grant
From which to buy books.
We are encouraged to require
Very few books.
A book is a valued art object here.
I never hear a complaint here
And no one misses a tutorial
Without the most profuse and formal
Of apologies.
In California my students and I and everyone else,
Also including the movie stars and politicians and
Pro-athletes,
Seldom stop for breath
In the midst of a constant bitching.
"At the University College of North Wales at Bangor" by Gerald Locklin, from New and Selected Poems. © World Parade Books, 2008.
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