Faculty members compose poem for President Marcy

Nine Ways to Welcome our Ninth President

I

At the foot of Mt. Tamalpais, the Sleeping Maiden
our new president
takes stock.
 
II

Shake her hand.
 
Hers will extend
early and first—
never hidden in a pocket.
 
“Hands are extensions of intentions,” they say.
She knows to follow through,
to pay attention.
 
III

We are of many minds,
like the nuthatch
that plants 98,000 pinyon pines.
 
Watch closely:
 
The bird moves at angles
upside down the tree.
A strange way to move, but
 
before long—a forest.
 
IV

From her family’s ranch
she looked 
all the way west to us.
 
She knows winter,
the steam of cattle grazing,
Nebraska’s bright bird—
the Western Meadowlark’s call.
 
V

Write her a letter:
a personal letter
that closes
with or without
your name.
 
She invites this.
 
What you think
she needs to know.
 
VI

Offer her art:
a performance,
a good story,
a painting,
a prayer,
or a poem.
 
VII

They are seeds, too.
Plant them here.
 
VIII

Like the letters
from California’s past
written to Midwesterners
describe what you see:
 
morning fog, Sisters Creek,
students at the door,
pages of fragrant books
opening.
 
IX

Marys we have needed:
Mary Louis, our first,
Mary Raymond, our second,
Mary Thomas, our third,
 
And now we welcome:
Mary B. Marcy, our ninth president, Persona Grata.