Did I miss anything?

Tom Wayman

<sub>Nothing. When we realized you weren’t here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours

Everything. I gave an exam worth
40 percent of the grade for this term
and assigned some reading due today
on which I’m about to hand out a quiz
worth 50 percent

Nothing. None of the content of this course
has value or meaning
Take as many days off as you like:
any activities we undertake as a class
I assure you will not matter either to you or me
and are without purpose

Everything. A few minutes after we began last time
a shaft of light suddenly descended and an angel
or other heavenly being appeared
and revealed to us what each woman or man must do
to attain divine wisdom in this life and
the hereafter
This is the last time the class will meet
before we disperse to bring the good news to all people
on earth.

Nothing. When you are not present
how could something significant occur?

Everything. Contained in this classroom
is a microcosm of human experience
assembled for you to query and examine and ponder
This is not the only place such an opportunity has been
gathered

but it was one place

And you weren’t here</sub>

,.~*' My reaction '*~,.

The first thing that came to my mind after reading this poem is a good friend of mine who misses class alot. She is a very nice and smart person but sometimes she gets quite lazy about work. This poem got my interest because of the title; it had mocking humor. This poem is a silly poem, with a bit of sarcasm. The poet went two ways about answering the question, but they are both true. When someone misses something, he or she misses everything that happened during their absent, but nothing at the same time, since what he or she missed is what he or she doesn't know. There would be no significance n the event then, however, the event still happened anyway, so it doesn't matter it was experienced by someone; it still existed. The poet kept going back and forth with "nothing" and "everything", and getting detailed every other stanza. First it started with missing a class, then to a valuable human experience. Ultimately what the person missed does not seem to determine its significance anymore. Even though it may not mean anything to someone who missed it, but everything that happened in that particular place, is still something.

The poem primarily seemed like a simple and silly poem, but when I think about it, it contains an important message, or at least in my opinion. There are billions of people in the world, but not all of them live in the same region. Most of our lives, we spend our day without knowing everything that happens in the world. We all live in our own world and cannot be aware of everything. Some people don't even care about what happens outside, such as "Oh those poor Iraqians!" but they would return to their task. I suppose whatever happens in this world is all connected to each other and important. Even now it's quite difficult for me to fully explain what the poem may mean, but I liked the it because the poem possesses a complex idea and philosophy that I admire.