Young Adulthood
By Maggie Anderson
Hello Noisemakers. We are so thrilled to be sharing with you this week Young Adulthood, a poem by Maggie Anderson! We love all things that crinkle, clang, cough, bang, and smack. We love noise (if we have time to decompress cause we also got sensory issues)! Maggie’s piece reminded me that we need to keep it noisy in our trapper keeper.
Young Adulthood
A professor told us that some psychologists want to control everything. Boil off all the noise, until they get down to the core. Others think we need the noise, the commotion, the pandemonium, the racket of life. Perhaps, the noise isn’t noise at all It is the message. One afternoon, I told a friend that I thought That being was the most important part of human being. That, maybe, being was more important than doing. He scoffed and replied, “That’s deep.” Today, I accidentally got a Post-it stuck on my sock. It said, “I embrace vulnerability.” The noise of the universe is funny sometimes. I wish I’d told my friend that sometimes I wish I was a better listener, I feel guilty because I put on headphones for a five-minute walk, I feel like I owe the world so so much. That the idea that I just need to be, scares me too. But, today I tried. I skipped around campus. I high-fived a statue. I saw a man with beautiful purple crocs. And I felt a little less scared. I wish I’d told my friend that I was trying to reach out. That friendship is companionship within the commotion. As I write this poem, I am afraid that you might scoff at me. So I guess, instead of hoping that this poem is good, or deep, or meaningful or even poetry, I’ll just hope that it’s noisy.
About the hot poet: Maggie (they/she) is from Minneapolis, MN but is currently enjoying the weather, and their studies, at the University of Washington. Maggie loves Mary Oliver, fun earrings, glitter make-up, and J. Sullivan and is currently planning their Wendy Cope orange tree tattoo. Their insta is maggieanderson___ & You can follow Maggie on substack
where they'll try to live up to their handle.Thank you Maggie, Thank you reader, Thank you Universe. Keep making noise.
See you next week!
Xoxo
PTK
I love this poem!