Lou Lewandowski

English Professor and Administrator at San Jos� State University

Published Poet 

Biography

• Professor of English and Creative Arts
• BA 1958 Stanford; MA 1966; PhD 1969 SUNY Binghamton
• Taught creative writing and was coordinator of the Creative Arts program.
• "Mary "Lou" Lewandowski (English/Administration, 2000) was both a friend of many faculty members in a number of departments, as well as a wife, and mother of eight children. Despite her many family responsibilities, she earned her undergraduate degree at Stanford and a doctorate at SUNY-Binghamton. After serving in the challenging position of Chair of the English Dept., she became Associate Dean of Graduate and International Studies. In 1984 she was instrumental in organizing SJSU's semester program in Bath, England." EFA News, Vol. 20, No. 3, Winter 2007, pg 5.

Selected Poems

• Her poems "Making Plans" and "Open Heart" were published in the 2005 edition of Reed magazine

• "Making Plans"
  • Published in 2005 edition of Reed magazine (SJSU)

Making Plans

Referred by a friend

the man from the mortuary

came one fall evening,

the first rain glistening

on his new polished shoes.

Placing his pictures in tight, ordered rows,

he covered my table with grave plots and tombstones,

and, smiling, spoke of our �future needs,�

our �space requirements�

our �serenity� in his garden

and his �all inclusive plan.�

The twins, bursting in, pulled us

to a rainbow, blooming

lustrous in the evening sky,

then settled at the table

with jelly and crackers

spreading crumbs on the tombstones

they liked best.

Wide-eyed, they watched our morturary man

talk of prices and process

in solemn grey tones.

To set them free, I sent them to bed.

�We handle everything,� the visitor intoned,

his face drooping with sympathy

as he sighed towards the bedroom

and pulled out the form letter, titled

�To our Children on the Day of our Deaths.�

It was then that I bolted and chose cremation,

(cheap, sure, fast) while he gasped

and I pushed him through the door

while I laughed, left with

visions of my bones, my ashes

singing in the mountain winds

dancing with the snowflakes,

no stone of his to hold me down.

Additional Links

• Website with samples of her poetry

SJSU Campus Reading Program

Questions or comments? Please contact us at

sjsureads@sjsu.edu