Under the Shadow of the Rotunda by Ryan Winegardner
I have submitted a brief poem about my first experience at the University of Virginia, in the fall of 2020, when the most that first years could do for fun was gather on the lawn and drink in small groups. This first semester at UVa was formative for me because it made me realize how systemic issues can cause fractures between individual relations, pitting people against each other, forcing them to focus on difference rather than similarity. Thus, the narrator of the poem focuses on his hardships -- humorously existential -- while the ambassador focuses bluntly on his own. Neither party really compromises, and the Rotunda stretches out into a hellish shadow across the lawn.
"Under the Shadow of the Rotunda"
under the shadow of the Rotunda
my first week of my First Year
I was caught drinking warm Bud Light;
an Ambassador ambled over,
and said that drinking isn’t allowed
on University Property. I said
“you can take my drink over my dead body!”
He reached for his walkie-talkie.
I said “Wait! Wait!
listen man:
when I was born it was like
jumping out of an airplane,
and the ripcord for the parachute fails,
and the backup ripcord too,
and for my last five minutes
all I can really do
is watch the land race to catch me.
I said listen man:
when I was born it was like
being ejected from a spaceship,
and as I float into the void,
an indicator dings:
[WARNING OXYGEN LEVELS LOW]
and in the shadowy distance, Europa’s umbra
passes over Jupiter,
like a shark in the water,
and beyond that: pinholes in the darkness,
and beyond the pinholes: nothing.
I said listen man:
I was born screaming,
and I’ll go out screaming,
so you can either keep things quiet
for the alumni, or I’ll raise hell.”
…
And the Ambassador said:
“listen man: You think you
got problems?
this is my third job,
and I got four kids,
and you’re here, and I’m there.”
And that was when I finally understood!
And the rotunda’s face was one shadow,
and it cut a long scar into the ground,
casting first years and ambassadors,
and students and faculty,
into a battleground
of darkness and night.