I learned in college
how to read a syllabus
really well
and I knew it wasn’t going to be useful.
I was becoming an educated bum.
Still,
I had this nostalgic feeling
like I was waiting for my life to start
and I look back
on that time
noting the kids
I went to high school with
who dropped-out
one by one.
I never quit—I can outlast, anyone
no matter how stupid it is.
Community College was the slow lane
without much future
but I
didn’t have anything better to do.
I enjoyed the professors—
the professional bullshit artists
who talked endlessly about art and history and weather and business and psychology
as if
it was everything.
I even got to like some of my teachers
It was a miracle, they liked me.
My last three years
completing the Ph.D.
were hell
but I was tough as hell.
I needed to endure the fire
to test myself
to prove my conditioning.
10 years of higher education, later
and I learned what I am—
mostly, what I’m not.
Now, I’m an educated man
Before, I was an ignorant boy
They say, you can learn a lot about people
when you travel
but that’s only because
people pay attention
Human Nature Stays the Same.