Yesterday and today...poems, work, checks, and the Elvis

So, yesterday was quite a long day. Besides for class, I walked around downtown for several hours. I walked all the way down to Battery Park, around the World Trade Center, around Canal Street. It was pretty fun. Unfortunately, I didn't see any Rent bootlegs, though I did talk to a shady guy who seemed to have a pretty good collection.

After my long, long walk, during which I started to feel sort of malnourished, I decided to splurge a bit and eat out at Peanut Butter & Co. on Sullivan Street. It seemed like an enticing idea, most things on the menu containing peanut butter, so I figured it was worth a try. I had "The Elvis," which is a grilled peanut butter sandwich containing bananas and honey. It was quite excellent and relatively reasonably priced considering how outrageous most restaurants are. I've figured that there isn't too much more splurging to be done in the near future, considering what's coming up: holiday shopping, Lisa's visiting my dorm (and we're seeing a show). I have $150 from the paycheck I just got that has to last me until my last paycheck, which I get shortly before leaving for break, which should be more like $100 or perhaps slightly less. I'm slightly worried really, considering how far all that money has to stretch.

Today was the longest day. I had 11-12:15 class, 12:30-3 class, and 3:30-4:45 class, followed promptly by work from 6-9:30. And work went by so slowly, because I didn't get any pledges.

Anyway, now it's almost over, and Thursday is slightly better, because I have a nice break between classes where I can take some "me" time.

I've decided I want to post a poem on here just for fun. It was this week's assignment for Great Poems class, and the assignment was to write a poem in the style of Wallace Stevens's "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird." It's not really supposed to make much sense or have a clear point, but I thought it was pretty fun. Post comments if you enjoy/hate it. I won't be offended if you think it's crap.

“Thirteen Ways of Looking at Water”

I
Yesterday, I paid $3 for 12 ounces of water.
That’s about a quarter per sip.

II
On this island,
We’re surrounded by water.
I would never know without the boats;
I’ve seen them only twice.

III
In some parts of the world, water is scarce,
And people conserve it, bathing rarely.
I, on the other hand, take long baths and gulp
Tall glasses.

IV
Swimming through a warm pool,
I imagine myself a shark,
Cutting the water
Like a child.

V
Gathered around a fount,
Suits chatter about last night’s serial,
A ritual of water and flickering light,
Almost like the cavemen.

VI
As fish swim by,
I stand level with the water,
Imagining what it must be like to have gills,
Propelling myself toward
My reflection in the glass in an aquarium.

VII
In Louisiana,
Entire towns lie beneath water.
I stand in the rain in Washington Square Park and wonder
What that must be like,
These puddles up around my neck.

VIII
Jesus, I am told,
Walked on water.
“Be not afraid,” he said.
Who wouldn’t be?

IX
It’s far too early,
But I slip from my clothes behind the curtain,
Water slithering down my skin
Like sheets of clean
Or snakes.

X
Waking from a dream of something I forget,
I look out of my window and see
A rainbow in the water,
Flecks of light falling
I think of Stevie Wonder –
“Ribbon in the Sky.”

XI
Black umbrella in tow,
I tap my feet on the pavement,
Humming and swinging around a traffic pole,
Singin’ in the Rain.
David asks me if people sing in the streets like in musicals,
And I tell him yes,
Disregarding water-logged All-Stars.

XII
I look at a panel by Wilson Bentley –
Snowflakes, hexagonal beauty.
This is not what I think of
When I think of water.

XIII

A friend told me our bodies
Are seventy-five percent water.
Standing in the rain,
I add the drops on my hat to the drops within me,
Measuring impossibly.