Tentacles and Air

August
Keen hearts, open minds, and alarm clocks
New notebooks, pens out in every class
Diligently taking notes, notes, notes
Fearing of papers
Peer edits versions 2 and 3
Alarmed about midterms
Take the double integral please
Fall
Football games in a blur of cardinal
The copy machine at work broke again
but Friday "day for eats" always delivers
Struggling to stay awake in class
Notes becoming worms on paper
Finals arrive and outlines are made
Late night study sessions
Boston cream pie with a Parkside plate
Christmas videos during finals week
Blue books for sale
Winter
Reminiscing of high school with hometown friends
Hanging out for memory's sake
Holiday celebrations
Home feels best
3 weeks pass and new book lists are out
Ordering from eBay and Half.com
Looking forward to a new semester
Spring
Classes are new
Classrooms are old
Now feeling so much more accustomed to the
time it takes to walk from A to B
Struggling to stay awake
but never during evening class
Tuesdays and Thursdays at Parkside
have become a routine
(to be missed without meal plans next semester)
The Expectancy Theory of 304
is a lie;
I expected to fail
but didn't
10 days of Hong Kong
Late nights yet feeling safe
to roam the city at night
With dumplings, chopsticks, hot tea, mochi balls, mangoes
and sometimes Starbucks too
10 days ended too quickly
I look forward to the Batch at work now
and hugs and the copy machine
Someone should recycle all the discarded staples
Suddenly, wishing the year would slow down
Past Week
of Korean BBQ and rice paper
followed by "Disturbia"-esque reckless driving
and the carne-asada-fries-Heart-Attack-in-a-box
and waking up at 7:36 for 8am class
on the diagonal point of campus
spring football scrimmage has come and gone
waiting in Lines and Lines for a name
Now, only 3 weeks remain
of the first year
One of which is class
Two of which are finals

I won't lie; I'm tired.
Of a lot of things
Schoolwork
Homework
Finals prep
Papers
Group projects
But most of all
I'm tired of reaching out
Because few reach back
Like tentacles seeking love in the world
Pull back because they only find
Empty air
Next year perhaps,
the tentacles will find another
who will reach back