spring 2019
prof. amanda williams
yeah the newspaper is for reading the news
yet
it also plays a much larger role in our lives
we wrap gifts in it, concealing packages full of joy
we light it to start campfires, facilitating our addiction to s’mores
we snip out articles and show them to friends
we announce births and deaths and marriages
we ask for help, in the most desperate of pleas from the wanted ads
we use it to cushion things in boxes as we move
we see our names on the honor roll, and stick it up on the refrigerator
we lay it out to catch pumpkin guts, as we carve menacing smiles and triangle eyes
we tear it in strips and soak it in paste, paper-mache-ing volcanoes for the advancement of science
we make little paper hats and pretend we are swashbuckling pirates
we sail newspaper boats down the creek, betting on whose will win as they spin in the currents
it weaves a common narrative through our lives
and then gains a second life
but now it will have to live out a third in our memories
it won’t last long