Skip to content

In the news

Poetry Projects

Throughout the year, the Eichler Fellows learn to write poetry. For their capstone project, the fellows write a poem that encapsulates their fellowship experience, a moment that has special meaning, or a concept that was learned. These are a few of those Poems:

The following poem was written by Jessica Wang, Dartmouth Class of 2023, Eichler Fellow 22-23.

Grandma of Mine

I think it was one of those days—
one of those stupidly gorgeous days.
I found myself, under the sun, just walking,
until my walking, turned 
into stepping

One step, and another—
and I began to wonder

What did walking feel like for my grandma…
Would she feel the sun on her skin, the way that I do?
And would she complain about the roots and cracks too?

I left my body for a moment,
and my grandma filled my soul to my hand.
She felt the warmness of the suns rays—
the coolness of the breeze.

And for a moment, she didn’t exist
through my memories,
she lived through me.

I carry those memories with me
but I wonder, what was she like 
when she was twenty, or thirty, or five?

To know her only through memories of mine,
is unfair to the memories that were hers

I call this feeling—
this feeling of living 
for those who have passed,
empathy for the dead.
Jessica Wang, D'23, Economics major