Held a $7.50 job, never late
Loved to develop film, loved living five minutes from work
In a neighborhood full of people who had been there since birth
I was smarter before I came to college
Learned that money earned was just the side effect
Making people happy, helping them get what they want
Always on time, always willing to find an answer
I was better before I came to college
Four more years of bearing the books and dirty looks
Got me tired and lazy – forgot my objectives
I live waiting for the weekend, for reprieve
Late to work, call in when I want to and get off early
I worked better before I came to college
Trying to learn about the real world from
Professors who have been on campus too long
Because I was smarter before I came to college
I knew about people and interacting with them
Now I could write a great research paper
But who does that better, who cares, who is happy?
Me spending 4 full days and 20 long hours at a computer
For something just designed to make the grade?
I was smarter before I came to college
Writing mattered, was fun, was easy
I could type you a paper with diagrams
I cared – I don’t care so much anymore
I feel less now that I’ve come to college
Spent 8 semesters and $4000 on books
That taught me I new more than everyone else
That I knew everything
But book knowledge won’t get you far
Because we were smarter before we came to college
When you don’t know
When someone hasn’t told you what works and what doesn’t
You think better, you question
Most were smarter before they went to college
Were the explorers really smarter than the natives?
They just didn’t complicate their lives
They lived in harmony in a world that we destroy because we KNOW better
Arrogance is bliss?
I was smarter before I came to college
We look at genocide and wars and we say these things are bad
But what are we doing in Iraq? What did we do 10 years ago?
Same damn thing
We destroy what we do not understand
This I have learned in college
Those of us in college see us as better than those out
We are arrogant and miserable
No better than anyone else – education is not what makes a man
Maybe we were smartest in kindergarten
But what have we taught our kids?
Need for caution in their neighborhood
Don’t talk to the old lady next door
Stay inside, learn hand-eye coordination
Run, don’t walk; scream, don’t talk
Our children suffer because we were smarter before we went to college
Time, energy, effort spent trying to earn that next dollar
Kids in daycare, with sitter, because we aren’t rich enough
We don’t know enough to get the good jobs
Debt to learn, debt to repay
Not getting ahead, what is life about anyway?
Life is not about getting smarter in college
Cushy jobs, nice carsHere and gone again
Just as we are, what will we leave behind?
Debt and longing for that day when we have enough to stop and enjoy each other
Rat race from hell, we are smarter than this
Labels: Poetry
