higher education i refuse the ability to summarize
and analyze and deconstruct and
write convincing papers that argue
my points to kingdom come. already
when i look at a newspaper i know
its darkest secrets and its intense
history, and if i didn't know, i know
how to find out. isn't that what we all
teach students - the ability to dig up
corpses and catalogue artifacts and
chase treasure in maps, X marks the
spot; the ability to identify suspects
and bring out truth and beauty and
make sure they've expidited concretely
enough in five-page opuses five times, a
twenty-five page final that reveals the secrets
of the stars and the infinitude bottoms
of black holes, the solutions to mysteries
that stumped aristotle and socrates;
there must be concise directions to paradise
otherwise the perfect grade shall be withheld.
for this i shall refrain from chasing after
winters and snows, fleeting summers and
springs generated in classrooms that glow
gold in the autumn sunset. still i crave the
ability to capture light in prisms so i can share
your glee at discovery and conversation. still
i crave precise discourse held exclusive. yet i fear
your cold solitude and fullness in life in pages, i fear
your dogged insistence that this particular detail
is off by furloughs and furloughs. there has to be
someone to rescue you from infinite confines and
deep mazes, there has to be someone to pull you
out of ruts and make you eat. or at least breathe
the dustless air. come, the sunset
is warm and i have set it aside for you. tell me your
secrets, lead me your realities,
i promise to listen, and taste and drink and sample
every fresh sprig of detail, until you are full for
having someone travel with you for a time.
  ¶ 7/19/2004 04:16:00 AM