Ode to Southern Oregon University

Palms and pines grow side by side
and though there is no ocean tide,
this is a port of call
for scholarly ships from all around the globe

a bustling market not for razors, blackberries, and bathrobes
but facts and theories, music, comraderie and art:
a piece of America not ignorant, decadent, and in decline
but learned, ascendant, and strangely innocent

modern and cosmopolitan yet long a scholar's mecca,
where professors gave envious grace to the thousands of students
who protested the first day of the 2nd Iraq War,
where classes are small and personal
but vision and compassion are global

S.O.U. is a school
not as prestigious as it is well spoken of,
not as rigorous
as it is methodical and innovative:
a fortress of Bohemian liberalism
open to both the banker's and the logger's son

where those who come
with passion, desire, or ambition
usually sail away far better for their stay