POEM - 1986 Was That Year That

It was that year

Where we finished the house

We had been building

And finally moved in

To our third and final

Tucson residence

The year I took the challenge

To strip all of the paint

Off the old kitchen table

Each and every nook and cranny

When I settled into the routine

Of playing Frisbee with Joe

On the deserted backside

Of the old main building

Talking philosophy

And laughing at the stoner couple

That invaded our solitude for a time

To spend their lunch hour

With their lips suctioned together

It was learning

Never to fall asleep

In study hall

            Not ever

And then learning how to relate

To all the future felons

In the class with me

Finding new ways

To get in and out of school

Without the benefit of permission

For those days

When being in school

Didn’t really make sense

And all of Tucson was waiting

Just outside the chain link fence

Begging to be explored

Waiting to teach me

That the smell of punk

Is clove cigarettes

And Nag Champa

While Bookman’s stocked rebellion

In musty print and discount vinyl

If you were just willing to look