I was thirty, freshman making up time
my first semester in college and
I took a film class
what seemed like easy credits
Rarely had I worked so hard
in a classroom
Week one we watched
‘The Graduate’
penultimate coming-of-age tale few of
my classmates had even
heard of
We focused on the ending of the film
on again, off again
lovers Ben and Elaine
brazenly escape from her wedding
hopping a city bus
laughingly falling into the rear seat
while out the back window
enraged family gives chase
Ben and Elaine, oblivious
smile warily
Film ends, professor simply asks us
fifty dorky freshmen
“Happy ending? Yes or no.”
Only three hands
shoot up on the ‘no’ option one of them
shaky at best
Professor Yahnke had us watch
the ending again – three, four times
each time facilitating
late teen incomprehension to
why this was not a happy ending
discussing the
framing of the scene
body language
facial expressions –
Ben, Elaine, her parents
professor’s message
this was no ending in any real sense
but simply the start of
some new chapter
Class ended with dumfounded
eighteen-year-olds
mumbling weak defenses of
myopic beliefs
Ben was the hero, he rescued Elaine or
Elaine realized her mistake or
my personal, perennially skewed favorite
‘true love won in the end.’
It took me another sixteen years to
complete my college degree
it has been over thirty
since I sat through that film class
and two weeks of passionate arguing about
happy endings, sad endings
endings are only new beginnings
To this day
I see anything in life that ends as
simply a phase
life as perpetual Etch-a-Sketch
draw it out, shake and erase
draw something new
And whenever I hear anything by
Simon and Garfunkel
I offer a stern, out loud rebuke to my
car’s radio
to hell with Mrs. Robinson
Here’s to you, Professor Yahnke
– Mark L. Lucker
© 2021
http://lrd.to/sxh9jntSbd
Fantastic bio! I’m 62 and still working sporadically on my degree. More writing now than studying as I’m trying to get published. Good luck in the marathon and thank you for sharing!
Thank you! We are of the same vintage, but different grapes. We will travel this road together!
First off…I am a huge fan of your work. Have been since 2016 (my first marathon). You are an amazing story teller. One day I would love to hear you reading/speaking/sharing your work. Podcast? 🙂
As always in your work, you hide gems of teachings for the reader/witness to discover the deeper into the work we go. For this piece, the treasure hunt begins with the title – a witty layer to the film and your own experience as a professor of life. You are so generous with the young ones in the course who, perhaps, didn’t have the life experience you did and rather than dismissing their inexperience, you compassionately reminded us of our own naiveté at that age. I have always loved this about your work: you observe with the fullness of your heart and allow the beings you observe to live in the fullness of theirs. What a gift!
I do have a question about the emphasis in the first stanza on the film class rather than your age.
Ie: First semester in college I took
a film class
I was thirty, freshman making up time
Is the emphasis on the class? Would it be too obvious to bring the “a film class” to the end of the first line, isolate “I was thirty” in its own line, bringing “freshman making up time” to give the “I was thirty” its own space…reaching up to the title above…suggesting you were a graduate, too, as an “older” person amidst the flowers of youth?
Another great piece, sir! Thank you for sharing your gift with us!
Thank you, Ramona. Very humbling.
First off, your edit suggestion was spot-on, and has been made. Thank you!
As to a podcast…that has potential.
Your kind words have touched me. I greatly appreciate your taking the time to read and comment.
Ramona – I should add that I was as clueless as my young colleagues as to the whole not an ending/just a new chapter thing…but I grasped the concept far more rapidly.
LOL Thank you for leaving the link to this in your comment on my poem, I definitely hear the echoes of shared experience here, kindred spirit! I agree with Ramona, your storytelling is phenomenal. I would subscribe to your podcast in a heartbeat.