Tanka Writing Roundtable • Fall 2009
Dr. Randy Brooks

Connecting

by
Michelle Ginger Dixson

Introduction

For those of you reading this passage that know me, you can skip this and go onto the good stuff, the tanka, after finishing this paragraph. Just know that this is the Fall of ’09 at Millikin.

Now, for those of you reading this introduction that don’t know me, or at least well enough to skip an intro. Life happens, you reflect on the past, you enjoy the present, and you look to the future. Here are a few things you should know:

It has been the fall semester of two thousand nine at Millikin University. I have been here now for two and a half years and I am ready to graduate and move on. I have been reflecting a lot this semester as a result.

Times are a changin’: I have started taking my core courses as a junior, I have become a leader both as president of a student organization and as a building manager here at MU, I have learned and am still learning about my significant other, and just this semester, I have rekindled my connection to one of my brothers as both a friend and sibling.

This semester has been all about relationships: relationships with friends – old, new, and graduating, relationships with family – reconnecting and growing apart, relationships with faculty – gaining trust and respect.

Now that you know a bit about me, I bid you go forth and read.

connecting
really for the first time
as equals
             friends
                       siblings

my brother’s bad
habit
I switch
chairs
on his porch

getting frustrated
dad takes the controller
from me
and beats my boyfriend
at canoeing

my mom
asks about high school friends
once so important
now there is only
one

from the greyhound
to grocery shopping
to our suite
we plan
for her birthday

5 stop lights
6 towns
7 roads
to get to you... or
8 seconds

a ring
much too large
yet
it fits perfectly
for me