we’re
classroom discussions
presented
as if
we were
separate
from
the rest
of
society
society’s
social problems
to be
resolved
via
classroom exercises
in
words
volloyed between students
and
professors
as if
a tennis match
proposed solutions
without
any contact
with
reality
speaking
of
homelessness
and
starvation
before
heading home
or
dining out
we’re
the distorted
middletown characters
written
into the pages
of
intellectual fantasy
ignored
or
harassed
along the sidewalks
of
nonexistent
typical cities
for
each city
is as unique
as
the souls
that
occupy it
so
formulaic strategies
are
fated to fail
and
when they do
the discussion
returns
to
the classroom
retreat house and monastery
were also destroyed
such simple words
in a byline
from an old paper
a byline
you know
just something of little interest
to the general public
but it was on that hillside
that i met
father bicycle
with his cane
waving in the air
as if parting the red sea
proclaiming his desire
to travel once more
to his beloved
liberia
and cycle its paths once more
though cycling now
would not be possible
just walking with a cane
was a challenge
yet he did return
and came back
to his barren cloister
where he died
it was his
home then
where his memories were stored
after years of service
to humanity
his
home
reduced to ashes
college students
a bonfire party
and a lifetime of work
and memories
smoldering in the rubble
of a good time
i still cannot release my anger
it rages within me
and i feel ashamed
for i know
he stands
just above the horizon
and prays for them
in his
home
Read Between the Minds 