Gotta make the grade
Time to ace the interview
Gotta land the job
Try to find the keys to this love's heart
Gotta smile at the party
Make them feel you're a part
But apart you feel
Can't find any traction grinding through the friction
So you're sliding down the wheel
Grinning from ear to ear
behind the fear
is a man
who needs
to be left
with his love
in a field depending on his own
and living by his yield
Author Bio:
Conor Michaud is originally from a small town south of Boston and has been living in Philly for just over a year. He holds a BS in Environmental Science and primarily focused his education on biology and literature while at the University of Massachusetts. He spent the summer building hiking trails in Alaska and it's from his Alaskan journal that he pulled this poem. The writing is a reflection on all the enormous decisions and social intricacies to come once he left the Alaskan woods for a new city. Although he had to move back to a big city to make a living, his deepest desire was to live off the land in a quiet beautiful space with his love. He is still working on that.