Cornell College has always supported a vibrant, creative community, offering numerous opportunities to immerse ourselves in specialized educational experiences each block. For this issue of the Cornell Report, we decided to do something we haven’t done before: feature our community’s creative voices in a new way! We opened a call for 10-line poems inspired by reflections through the lens of immersion. Students, staff, and alumni from almost every decade between the 1970s to the present responded.
Each poem carries its own unique reflection, but something magical occurs when they are read together. The poems become part of an overarching story that parallels the journey of immersing oneself in life through college and beyond. It begins with curiosity and a desire to learn, then turns to highlight aspects of the Cornell experience, before moving outward to confront questions of life and finding one’s place in the world.
We hope you enjoy this poetic journey!
Eliza Carlson ’25 curated this poetry collection. She is a double major in English: creative writing and art history with a studio art minor. She independently released her debut album, Ghost Town, in 2023. Carlson is the business manager and writes for The Cornellian, and two of her poems were published in Open Field in 2024. She is writing her second album, her first novel, and her first poetry collection.
No Need to Come Looking for Me; I am Down the Rabbit Hole
I was curious. I was intrigued.
Now I’m down the rabbit hole. Now I’m in too deep.
I blame my innocent questions.
That led to my three-week immersion.
That led to my month-long excursion.
That fed my lifelong obsession.
All because
I was curious. I was intrigued.
Now I’m down the rabbit hole. Now I’m in too deep.
Nina Morris ’17
Intense concentration
Maximum use of time
Meeting others, shared goals
Exposure to myriad of information
Retainment attained
Specialization!
Internalizing in order to externalize
Opportunities abound;
Nurtured to be successful!
Bill Thomsen ’76
IMMERSIONS
Freshman days immersed in the know,
Lots of changes, helping us grow.
Soon you're a Sophomore with lots of Ram friends,
Immersed in your classes, borrowing books that they lend.
Next, you're a Junior immersed with life on The Hill,
Making lifelong decisions and gaining upperclass skill.
And when you're a Senior and you've mastered the Block Plan,
Cornell's immersions have prepared you for ALL THAT YOU CAN!
Betsy Wagner ’94
Through the Fray
I’ve often stood on the sidelines just to see, too mesmerized to interrupt them.
A family, a scurry through the leaves in fall as they chase each other’s tails in tandem.
And, perhaps, if I am patient enough and shake the nuts in my pocket, they’ll listen
on unsteady but curious paws, bushy tails waving like blades of grass in the wind.
Sciuridae: squirrels. Squirrels in the ground, squirrels that fly, squirrels in the trees
far above our heads munching on acorns between their chewing, chittering teeth.
What separates the chunkies we know from those that fly or burrow is merely their home;
in between crisscrossing branches, one peek reveals a dray huddled together for warmth.
Sometimes, there is nothing more I want to do than stand among them, letting them frolic around
me in circles until I know nothing else than what they must see in the fray.
Ken Roden ’24
Return Mine
Penny for your thoughts?
In the closed eyes of the open flesh lie dimes.
In the mouthful of my self-inflicted grandiose rests I.
In a strike of lighting, the eye of desire comes alive.
Resting easy?
In my crackbrained dreams, my ring shines bright
(sealing him to the same fate as in real life).
Prometheus doesn’t return home,
Instead, with a nonsensical tongue he says:
“Come home; return mine.”
And even in an open casket, I fear that he never died.
Claudia I. Collazo Ramos ’27
redwood
they say time, it is a fickle thing
forever, only fool’s daydream
but somewhere in the midst of these towering highs
I do begin to believe that they lied -
for time stands with us, still, impossibly small
and the thrall of the forest sets in
ferns curl over shoulders, heartbeat footfall
fragile bodies and roots entwined therein
and I -
listen.
Eliza Carlson ’25
Two years later,
Culture shock finally fades.
I’ll never be a native,
But fluent, at least.
Immersion changed me.
Like a stone underwater,
I reflect the current’s shape.
Jessi Bee, associate director of residence life
Living Life
Live with grace
In grace
As grace
Live with joy
In joy
As joy
Live with love
In love
As love
Live with grace, in joy, as love
Julie L. Bryant ’88