by someone who doesn’t know where they’re going
too many nights waiting for promises wearing red satin dresses
sought wisdom in volumes of books and found some in the streets
on street corners and curbs and dodging cars
was supposed to be a business major but it was all wrong, it’s no good
instead of a big man on campus, I was a miniscule scribbler
camping out in the library on saturday nights
the current chapter of life was like the one before it
which was like the one before that and probably the one after that
only the words were moved around
the names had been changed to protect the hapless
yet, happiest were all the hours spent in the college library
reading not what I was supposed to, but what I wanted
I always believed that it would be a great day if I spent the entire day reading
later, I amended it to reading, writing poems, and creating art and by god I was right
cutting classes and just holed up in the library
the routine of a dateless school night
interrupted by the finding of a Led Zeppelin album among the empty chairs and tables
of the quiet room that was rarely used except by me
I took my treasure home with me and listened to it softly on my rca record player
out of fear the owner might somehow overhear it and want it back
I was motivated to read books about motivation but that’s where it stopped
hours spent learning, seconds or sometimes no time at all spent applying
the books had it down in black and white but real life was more of a murky gray
Algebra 10200, English 12100, Calculus 15010, Accounting 12345, and so on
we could have all used a course on Life 101
I eventually quit going to college but I did miss that library
