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.