on_college_lifeOn College Life
Nonsensical images dance in my mind
of snakes and dragons
laying in a field of
cold cold stones
as dreams launch
into the reality that makes
all of us stone cold crazy
We only think that
we rule
these computers
But in reality
these computers
are dragons
that run this maze
we call college
so much for rats
we are the lab animals
we come on schedule
laughing smiling
but just who rules
Surely we don't
as paper after paper
disappear in some
unknown electronic
gibberish as we
call it forth
after working on them
for what seems like eternity
Do we find ourselves
pleading to the
insanely blinking
courser as it taunts
us with an empty screen
Will we panic
will we scream
will we turn blue
in the face
as tirelessly the
courser blinks at us
Still it blinks
this unwavering eye
that we stare at for hours
hoping that letters appear
on the blank screen
as the line moves on
In time to rapidly
typing fingers
before some monster can
crash the system
or some unknown virus
freezes our screen
stealing that part
of our souls that we
sacrificed in the writing
Surely they know
those professors
who set up the papers
with impossible dead lines
cold blooded cold hearted
be these teachers
these experimenters
their search for knowledge
feed our anxiety
as nothing works
they feed the dragons
their self important
tasks as educators
politicians out of hand
to convey knowledge
or to save the system
I don't know
maybe one too many
viruses attacked my screen
or too many crashes
stold my papers
ripping it from existence
not caring of the time
it took to compose
for some grinning gargoyle
of a teacher who
protects the sacred
confines of this temple
of higher learning
And the great god
computer who holds
our souls for ransom
apart from the reality
of the real world
we toil endlessly
in this secluded den
in the monster's den
waiting for the sleeping
monster to wake
hoping it doesn't until
we escape from its confines
freshly written paper in hand
Not bothering to check
for hidden glitches
until the teacher smiles
and says correct it
feeding us once again
to the dragons
Does any of this happen to you
I fear the monsters
as I write this
Some days I toil for hours
over insignificant
assignments that seemed
important but only
receives check marks
yet they're all important
to the ogre who assigned them
Sometimes I wonder
just what's its all about
these endless turture sessions
as we struggle over
the next wave of tests
that always seem to be
grouped together
in some marauding packs
these be the dragons
or these be dinosaurs
some extinct nightmares
that torment the minds
of students everywhere
No matter how much we study
can we ever hope
not to lag behind
with the great god
computer accepting
our unknown sacrifices
Oh well all efforts
might not be wasted
as we war against these
demons called professors
these imps called instructors
these devils called
financial aid administrators
And the great god
of it all the staff
with more heads
than hydra
They lurk unknown in
the proposed class scheadules
Will we get a new sheep
ripe fpr the picking
or will we get leviathan
glaring at the fresh meat
foolish enough to
sign up blindly
for their classes
But these rulers
who decided my fate
their requirements
and the beatings we take
for the sake of a
higher education turning
mild mannered Bruce Banner
into the Incredible Hulk
Don't make me made
by cancelling classes
at the last moment
or adding a new requirement
that never seems to be offered
Even the food
reminds me to study
nothing taste better
than stale leaves
from some ungainly book
relegated to this
quasi-existence
in someone's system
Somehow I don't think
that applied physics
needs be digested
is such a manner
dry reading makes
dry eating
And lurking over it all
hiding in closed offices
are closeted together
these puppeteers
with strings attached
to our souls
pulling this way and that
as they control
our very future
with one single entry
on the great god's
hideously blinking courser
Making the known unknown
making life miserable
for a song or a dance
or even an arm and a leg
we need respect
not hard times
as money draws us
to those devils' delight
Somewhere else
the pundits wait
check each list twice
before the close
caressingly near
these students are
to freedom unless
a stroke of a pen
adds another necessity
that's hard to fulfill
to their tedious list
of requirements
The gargoyles grim
as on stage we march
living sacrifices
to an uncaring world
we've escaped this den
where iniquity flourished
but the devils laugh
as each name rings out
these be the zombies
these be the undead
with life squeezed out
and new ideas supplanted
Long live the class
of whatever
Paul Vernon Deffendall
April 9, 1996
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