The Academy

A poem dedicated to my friends, who have all graduated in their drug usage.

My friends have all graduated head of their class

What was powder on a mirror or empty CD case turns into glass,

burning sinuses or brimming over in sweet smelling clouds

 

What was calming in capsule form is now is distinguished as China's only Caucasian

 and if you're not fond of China,  you can call the Mexicans to cover up the potholes on the streets of your arms

 

If you're scared of needles or can't tie a bow

You can smoke brown stripes off Reynolds finest invention

RJ discloses it on his cigarettes

The common denominator isn't in their name

It's the tar

In our youth,

We were misplaced, misunderstood, and full of raw talent

Smoking cigarettes by the fences of our high schools,

 cutting classes,  breaking all the rules

Thinking of time in hourglasses         

in which the grains of sands

poured through like molasses

 

As young adults we sought our passions

in fruitless love affairs

leaving us desperate

often clinging to despair

 

We found comfort

in social settings that required

smaller gatherings within

a room sectioned off for a few to come in and out of  a little lighter than before

 

We were kings among peasants

and queens among a deck of cards

 

Jacks or better

were always followed by a coke

and a smile

 

In night clubs we were gods

Egos filled like the balloons that we sucked down with mind-warping speed

 

We never stood in line at the door,

We never paid for a drink

 

The bartenders knew us and loved us –

If the bookies got paid, it was because we made the score

 

We ruled when downtown was an escape route

for underage teenagers to destroy stem cell opportunities

offering race cars in the form of Mitsubishi-e

and two dollar trips for a eight hour tour

 

We hosted the after parties that raged into the sunlight

We drank the last beer  and watched the last man stand,

Yelling "Timber!" when he fell

 

We egged on the egos that led to the fights

We told pretty  girls to cheat on their loved ones

promising, we would never tell

 

We shared stories, interrupting one another

to get the loudest laugh

Passing the conch for attention

they were my scouts, and I was their den mother

you couldn't have asked for more

(but you always did)

 

It was age that separated us

distinguishing our degrees amongst each other

Our education was paid on a loan that was in default

We suffered collectors and harassing phone calls

and we found addictions that destroyed trust

inflictions that we'd yet to discover

 

We destroyed the commonality we shared

there was no room

we went in together

we'd all come out alone

 

Perhaps the time had come

for us to move out of the dorm

to get back into society but we still shared one thing in common,

none of us, not one of us, could face the thought of

                                         sobriety.

Author's Note

comments, edits, all welcome.

Reviews

[Flo_writer]

I was never around in the seventies but from what I know of it (taught by history) your poem takes me there. Some parts sound destructive and deceiving...

"We egged on the egos that led to the fights
We told pretty girls to cheat on their loved ones
promising, we would never tell"

Which I found fully entertaining and could relate to.

And some parts sounded sad...

"We destroyed the commonality we shared
there was no room
we went in together
we'd all come out alone"

as if a long time friendship had ended. To which I hope never to experience.

I really enjoyed it.

[Michael X]

this is great, a bit drawn out, although everything was fitting, definitely a class A work.

[Ed Hart]

it tells the story well as it can be told...it sure ain't the sixties...

[JR]

Good god, smooth movement the causes extra ripples in my cortex. I've been around... writing a book, mostly avoiding sites like this. You?

[Gastroc.]

great poem- it's hard to get to here though because your profile is still listed as closed.