The Indicator x The Student: “How I Want To Die”
Published in the Fall 2025 issue of The Indicator, “How I Want To Die” by Aidan Cooper ’26 writes about how asparagus season evolves into a meditation on mystery, ripeness, and time. Accompanied by artwork by Ana Martinez ’29, Cooper conveys the importance of living within the moment.
It’s asparagus season,
posters in Hadley & Northampton
for asparagus soups & sauté,
the annual festival on the 6th, $1.99 a bouquet
at Grady’s to a dollar more from Flayvors
& for the adventurous
there’s asparagus ice cream to taste.
I don’t know how asparagus grows.
I buckle into my mysteries like belts.
Sometimes I’m asked
why I love the rural life,
& I don’t. I just have a need
to point at earth. Because to say,
watch yourself, &,
asparagus could happen anywhere
& has always meant to,
is to say, all that’s ever done is a delight
we don’t dare explain. Today
everything’s fuzzy with fruition &
I don’t shave my whiskers. Today,
someone big strokes their asparagus beard
& next season’s strawberries bulge
like puckered lips. Oh, you, the valley
is saying. You’re here to be kissed
& happy & made of time.
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