Poem: The Prison of Culture

I would not wish my life on anyone.
Though equally
I would not wish to have
anyone else's life.

Starting another semester
at another school
I just turned 28
and I can't imagine
what I would be doing
if I wasn't
a professional student

Surrounded by
beautiful young women
and people of all kinds
looking to better themselves
or their lives

The energy at college
always vibrant and alive
fresh with hope
and belief that
their lives will be better

Yet I know
from experience
that most of those here
will not go on
to follow their dreams

there is only so much room
in this world
for
Sociologists, Artists, Scientists,
Writers, Psychologists,
and what-have-you.

The lie that they tell you is
that you can be whatever you want

Meanwhile
the bills start piling up
maybe you fall in love
have to take care of a family emergency
or decide to have a baby

No matter what it is
something usually happens
and I have come to believe
that the
eye in the triangle
is counting on this

So today I am grateful for my life
and the choices I have made
Grateful that I am in school
accruing somethings they call
"debt" and "credit" -
Though I am not quite sure
what either of those are

Looking at pretty girls
and studying my areas of interest
are my passion

Meanwhile my friends and peers
are locked into systems
of work and marriage
of addiction and soul searching
spending their free time
feverishly
making up for the time they waste
in Wage-Slavery
creating Art wherever possible
to balance the soul-less-ness
of modern western society

Yes
I am truly grateful today
for all my ills and troubles
the fact that I am still
not a wage slave
seems to balance it all out

I do not think the ghost of
"debt"
will ever catch up to me

Humans have yet to create a system
without loopholes and flaws
it's part of our nature
and finding them
is part of mine

If the "debt" does catch me
one day
far in the future
I will still be proud

For spending my youth
in the best possible way
and refusing to succumb
to the prison
of culture