Cummings 1

Kalley Cummings

Casale

ENGL 1101

10 September 2018

“An Object of Curiosity to Some”:

The Current State of My Life

Just Walking Around spoke to me on a level none of the other poems could reach.

Ashbery talks about how life can be a long and twisting road that you have to do on your own

terms sometimes without guidance from others. I related to the poem immediately, even upon

reading the title. I feel that I am constantly just wandering around, knowing vaguely where I

have to go but never knowing a sure path there. I resonated with the line “Counterproductive, as

you realize once again That the longest way is the most efficient way.” Every decision I’ve made

in my life hasn’t been made because it is the easiest or the most fun, it has been made because I

knew it was the right one (Ashbery 12-13). I picked Georgia College not because my friends go

here, or because there were parties, I chose this school because it felt right. The first time I

visited Georgia College I knew that even if I was accepted to the University of Georgia I would

be here. Walking across front campus under the trees I could see myself walking to class

everyday. I could hear myself talking about the homework I had at the max as if it had already

happened. I’m here because I chose this school, not because anyone told me to choose it.

In my eyes, this poem is about a person that can disregard everything happening in the

world, and take their own path, completely unique to them. In the last stanza of this poem,

Ashbery says “Come see it. Come not for me but it.” (Ashbery 19). I believe that he is saying

you shouldn’t do things just because others are doing them, do everything for yourself. Earlier
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this week I woke up to an empty dorm, did some homework, and decided to take a drive to

Dunkin Donut’s to get myself a coffee. As I walked back into my dorm armed with a large iced

coffee my roommate questions, “Who did you go to Dunkin Donuts with?” That was when I

realized that in high school, no one ever learned to be their own person, to do things for

themselves, just because they want to and for no other purpose. Do not follow in a path that

others have already taken, create your own, do as you like. As I get older, I realize that not

everything I do is going to be done with a group of people at my side, you will not be told what

and how to do everything. I wish that more people would realize this by the time we begin

college. After I moved out, I started to notice that I wanted to do more and more things on my

own, and I can hardly wait for graduation day to come so I can move and get away from

everything I know to start over fresh and new. I’m tired of having to follow the college path that

seems to be required of everyone just to gain a halfway decent job.

In Just Walking Around, the line “Smiling to yourself and others. It gets to be kind of

lonely” connected with me (Ashbery 8-9). We all have bad days, where we don’t want to talk to

anyone. On my bad days, no matter how hard someone tries to talk to me I just smile and nod.

Recently almost every day I’ve found myself walking to class alone, sitting alone, walking to

lunch alone, almost completely isolated except for the couple hours a day I get to sit and eat

lunch with my three friends. Upon coming to college, you are supposed to find yourself, find

your circle, and find where you belong but I have found myself becoming closer and closer to

myself. Before college I would never eat by myself, I could never go shopping by myself, I

could never think for myself. Now I can comfortably go to the library by myself, I can eat lunch

by myself, I’m comfortable with myself.

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Taking two weeks away from this essay and coming back to it, I relate to the poem on an

entirely different level then I did prior to turning this essay in the first time. The first line of the

poem, “What name do I have for you?... In the sense that the stars have names That somehow fit

them.” reminds me of your intuition guiding you (Ashbery 1-4). To me, he is saying that

sometimes you just know the right path to take in life without knowing exactly how you know,

the same way you cannot name a feeling your having, or you cannot name stars because they

seem bigger than life its self. This line stands out to me because I recently changed my major to

art history despite everybody in my life telling me not to. They felt that taking this path would

lead me to a dead end, to somewhere where I would be unhappy, but I had to follow my intuition

and do what makes me happy. I went home to tell my parents I was changing majors. They

were supportive but not the happiest I had ever seen them. My father said I was making an easy

choice. I wasn’t challenging myself, I wasn’t picking a stable career option for myself. My

friends think I’m going into a dead-end career. One high school friend told me that I’d just be

stuck as a museum tour guide for the rest of my life, but if it makes me happy then so what?

I feel that this poem spoke to me because I have always been a strong believer in doing

what you love no matter what. Just Walking Around focuses on how a path to happiness might

be hard or lonely but you should always do what your heart tells you to. Following your own

path has been increasingly hard lately. Coming to college to be surrounded by people with all

different opinions, and all of them want you to hear theirs. I need to block those people out and

focus on myself. I will eventually find the end of my journey where “The segments of the trip

swing open like an orange.” (Ashbery 17)