Free world
In school
they taught us things
not compatible
with the real world.
It is said
they were getting us ready
for the university,
the factory,
or office.
It was a
very narrow path
and I was
not interested.
I had
no idea
where I fit
in the pattern
and the well-worn
path confused me.
I was
certain I did not
want to be a
cashier,
food prep worker,
bookkeeper,
insurance salesman,
janitor,
marketing specialist,
police officer,
mechanic,
carpenter,
or office clerk.
There were
a thousand things
I did not want to be.
I sat in the classroom
waiting for it to all end.
I wanted
to run free in
the streets and fields,
strip off my clothes
and frolic naked
in the rain.
In the
adult world
such behavior was
discouraged.
It was
called truancy
and juvenile
delinquency.
If the police
found you out there
in the free world,
naked
or otherwise,
you were sent back for
punishment.
That’s how
it was in 1963
when I was eleven
and dreaming of escape
to a place that
did not exist.
I thought
there must be
another planet
or dimension
where people did not
force impossible
demands on you.
The prison
of public education
readied you
for the prison of
the factory,
the office,
or life on the street,
and
maybe locked up
in a penitentiary
if you did
something against
the rules.
