DON'T MAKE ME START EDITING

09 15 14

Waste no time
waiting for it to be hung

That monolithic
chestnut frame
housing the officiation
of the consummation
of a bachelor's degree
that hibernated
understated
in a trunk for eleven
years until the irony
of my position
was embraced just
tight enough
to elevate it to the floor
glorifying one corner
of the attic of
a big house
pimped up with enough
paint and furniture
to pass shruggingly
for an apartment

A more concrete
candidate for the wall's
interruption
is a letter from
the government
grudgingly officiating
the eradicating
of my student loan
in laconic honour
of my disability

The world needs
a bipolar-riding
former editor-in-chief
of campus arts
publications about
as much as
I require higher fees
for the filing of the
income tax returns that
bottom out
in the automatic
non-need for a number

I'm a special one
I get a word

nil

Author's Note

Reviews

[Ashira Macy]

This was probably the most straight forward piece I have seen by you. It was emotional, but it also had some comic relief in there. Kind of like Shakespeare's trick where right after a really heavy scene he would put a comical character in to perk people up again. Personally I think your accomplishments are pretty great. Former editor-in-chief looks great on a resume. I am still in college trying to figure out what the hell to do with myself at 24 years (I was leaning towards nursing, but anatomy has me reconsidering), so be proud that you have you degree.

[kublakhan27]

Haha It is very straightforward indeed, probably one of the most straightforward things I've written, and I did do my best to complicate it but to no avail ;P But for the thoughts I was trying to get across, this is the only way it could really be written...there was a conscious attempt to make it dry-humoured, cuz it would have been unbearably self-indulgent otherwise...maybe I was channeling the Bard's style a bit haha I am proud of the degree though, it's really the only thing I deliberately set out to achieve in my life and actually did achieve, but things have not been great in the years since...you never know where the future is going to lead you, and I have no doubt that it will work out just fine for you...so glad you enjoyed this one my friend :)

[Ashira Macy]

It is definitely an accomplishment. I don't know how it is in your neck of the woods, but the economy here is kind of in the pits right now. There are people with amazing degrees working in retail. We can only hope the only way to go is up.

[Matching Socks]

Yeah... Pretty much. :)
Took me so long to pay off my student loans.
Do you think anybody has asked to see that piece of paper?
I could have stopped at Marketing 101 when I learned the SWOT analysis.
That's maybe one of the things I use most.

[kublakhan27]

I would probably do it over again just for the sense of accomplishment...that's actually why I did it in the first place, more than any genuine career aspirations...I figured that part would work itself out but it never really had the chance cuz of the things that happened to me in the years that followed...

[Matching Socks]

I did it for the beer.

[Matching Socks]

Ok, just kidding.

[kublakhan27]

Haha I couldn't even do it for that cuz I didn't have medical clearance to drink through my school years...and I lived in a dorm...and people wonder what I was do depressed :P

[Sheila Kline]

BRAVO! I learned early in life that what I did not need was a college education to achieve my goals in life - Oh, I attended college at the tender age of 16 (second youngest student at the time, and the youngest was also in my class) so we blazed new ground. Two of my professors were Socialists, one mocked my religious beliefs and on and on so I opted to save a lot of time and money and do what I wanted to do. Yes, I am a rebel but as much as I am rebel I am a realist and my wisdom told me that to have a piece of paper on the wall, or elsewhere was but a plan devised by those who said I had to have a piece of paper to do this, and to do that, so I did not do this, and I did not do that......I did what I felt I was called to do!! My career was spent working for nonprofit organizations. I made little money but was content with my chosen path! I developed expertise in marketing, public speaking, selling and at the expense of "life". I lament at the vast number of students who pay for college loans for a multitude of years, do not get to work in the field they desire and oh well........let me get off my soapbox, and do some more poetry writing, as that is what makes me happy. Why I might even record it which uses my public speaking skills.....LOL We are all endowed with God given gifts and if we discover them early in life we shall know what we must do to allow our dreams, and goals to come true. I am still working on one of mine and when it "breaks", I will be very, very wealthy and all without a piece of paper on the wall! My piece of paper will be that framed dollar bill!!

[kublakhan27]

I've never had a whole lot of direction in my life beyond the writing...pursuing the degree was really an attempt at some sense of accomplishment, which I did gain from obtaining it, but I could never do anything with it...even if I could have afforded to go on with pursuing some kind of career, my personal issues would not have allowed it...there is nothing in my future that holds any potential of wealth, and I'm never going to live off of writing, so I am resigned to a paltry disability cheque...anyways that's my soapbox...this is not really a great poem by my standards but this is the only way I could get these thoughts out...thank you Sheila.

[Sheila Kline]

Well, if I get rich on my idea, I will remember you Steve!!!!! Writing won't do it for me but it allows me to flow with the thoughts that dwell within and therein comes ideas for new ventures! You are an inspiration to many people - be happy with who you are and get the thoughts out as you are able to do!! You are appreciated!!!!!!!!

[kublakhan27]

Thanks so much Sheila...your support is always an inspiration to me :)

[TL Boehm]

I feel this in my marrow as much as I read it. I am an accountant by trade. I work 50 hours a week in middle management. I loathe math and numbers. I write, I sketch, I love history and music. I sing. I play instruments. All this scraping for 900 sq feet of nothing and what I love is shoved in a box.
The more I read this the more I can feel it bubbling up, churning. That angst. This is a seething write.

[kublakhan27]

Yes, it is a pretty bitter write and not one of my best by any means, but it makes is point just the same...very few of us get to do something we truly enjoy, and I can't even hold a proper job because my social skills are that poor...still, at least I can look back and say I accomplished that much, education-wise...it's probably the most significant thing I'll ever do for the duration of my days so I might as well be proud of it...so glad you related to this one, I wasn't sure if anyone would...

[TL Boehm]

more than you might realize. Most of what I write is a lamentation of what could have been. My "career path" was born of a coyote mindset. I got my first job and every subsequent position I just scraped and tried to better myself but it was never my passion. My passion is in the arts. I took the safe path to survive, to eat, to take care of my family and I love them but the current situation has been 12 years in the making and has been detrimental now to my health - and now I am stuck. there is no out - just marination. And I am quite saturated. I guess I am using the degree in accounting but it was backwards. I did the work - then went back to college to get the piece of paper.

[Lyn Anderson]

The pairing with this song is perfect. I especially like the part about the falsely pimped out apartment. Nice job.

[kublakhan27]

I knew that was gonna be my song from the start...it's not my best by any means but it serves a purpose...glad you enjoyed it.

[Frieda P]

Kill em with kindness Benji, it confuzzles the fook out of them..you already know my take on this one, nuff said Oscar;)

“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”

[kublakhan27]

Haha Thanks love, I'm sure I was channeling Oscar a bit ;)

[Frieda P]

I never know who's gonna show up lately in your genius Norm. ;)

[Lydia Shutter]

Life is not fair....this is a given. Actually, I don't think degrees belong on a wall. They are not a decoration and not something one needs to throw in another's face. Student loans are a funny thing....I often wonder why the USA just sends a check to the supposed student. Why not send the check directly to the registrar of the institute of higher learning? Too many people cheat the government out of money this way. However, I digress...which I so often do! :) It's sad certain disabilities are not recognized as much as others. They are not "en vogue" so to speak. Your words get your message across powerfully. Great work....no surprise. Perhaps the world does not realize it needs "a bipolar-riding former editor-in-chief".....maybe someday they will. Lydi**

[kublakhan27]

Not much I can say here my friend, you've said it all...this is not my best work by any means and it definitely doesn't reflect my traditional style, but I needed a different style to say what I had to say here...this is a complicated one for me haha So glad you enjoyed it :)

[Einstein Noodle]

degrees are a funny thing ... some need the space on the wall .. others don't .. God bless all who have paid off the loans one way or another ... i love joni mitchell .. :)

i am forever grateful for my own accomplishments (small as they may be) in academia ..i see them as tickets to get somewhere .. i lived in an attic .. i loved it up there .. i loved my wife up there (she passed away many years ago now)... your poem gives me good feelings and thoughts this morning .. nice one!
E.

[kublakhan27]

I thought you might enjoy the music :) I am grateful for it as well, as it's the only real accomplishment that I can lay claim to in my life, the one thing I actually set out to do and was able to see it through...it all went downhill after that...but I'm always glad when I can offer you some positive vibes my friend, so glad you enjoyed it :)

[Einstein Noodle]

dear Kubla ... you have an important voice ... your downhill is the climb up for very many .. you be well ... be very well!!
love and peace and hammers .. bruahahahaha!
E.

[Avinash]

It describes the unfairness of the system through brilliant words. Their actions and reactions both should be like flies sitting on a glass box full of sweets. At least I hope.

[kublakhan27]

So glad you enjoyed it Avinash, thank you :)

[jacob erin-cilberto]

sometimes we wonder just what the hell we got degrees for?

from any years after i got my bachelors...it hung on the wall and i did everything in the world, but something having to do with that piece of paper....
cant' beat experience...that seems to beat what we get from the books...and then there are the loans...ugh

we get the degree...then spend a lifetime paying for it. yes, maybe we need more bi-polar ex editors in cheif to start editing life down to a more simple formula...

jacob

[kublakhan27]

I did it basically just for the sense of accomplishment...I thought I might find myself along the way as well, which I did, but what I found prevented me from doing much else in the years that followed...the issues detailed in the poem took over after that...so glad you enjoyed it Jacob.