Urban Semester 2020        for Barbara Myerhoff

The semester has stretched
For 40 odd years
And urban is everywhere

There's a sparkly blue
Tarp-as-tent on Hollywood Boulevard,
It scintillates in high noon's sun,
Mocks hidden stars

After viewing my art show
You took my hand,
And held it as we walked;
I was beguiled

I drive around city,
Yellow and red cannas
Flare from concrete medians,
I peer into rip-stop encampments,
See woman sprinkle
Water droplets on head,
It looks like a sacrament to me

The semester has stretched
For 40 odd years
And urban is everywhere

Laura Stickney 2020



Notes:

Barbara Myerhoff, 1935-1985,
Anthropologist, teacher, writer.
Founded The Urban Semester
at USC in 1968. She was my
teacher in 1976.

Photograph of Barbara Myerhoff
from Daily Trojan, c. 1978.