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Open Poetry #24
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D.Lester Young
Senior Member
since 2001-12-08
Posts 1219
Austin, Tx

0 posted 2003-02-02 04:13 AM


(This is a satire about living near a campus.)

I can not have a beer
On Sunday because of religion
Now because of
Someone’s college education
I will no longer be able
To drink after midnight
Even if my work ends then

Remember inside
You a minor to drink
At twenty
But adult enough to smoke
So let us limit
Cigarette consumption
Because cancer does kill
Future students
Missing classes on living

Watch out T town
Sex is next
For you know
How addictive that is
For surely it can cause
Heart attacks at night
Can impede your education

You can no longer
Have furniture outside
Saying it attracts mosquitoes
But how big are they
Are they life-size imports?

Moving into T town
Bring it into town
On the back roads
Keep household items hidden
Less you get a ticket
For living outside
Your allotted space

In a garage
Of ill repute
You must have
Smoked glass
Putting in a car
By quickly slipping it in
Less someone report you
To pest control
For this storage
Is for a porch sale

By the way
Have I told you?
How big the rodents are
Big enough to take you
Leaving you stranded
From the classes
On civil liberties
And freedom of speech
Allowing you into courses
Of dictatorial control

Imprisoned here
The State of Bama
Has its limitations
For students here
Have their own Cash
For select restaurants
Of Bama boosters

I am left with just
A ghostly restaurant
Of a private citizen
Not being able to pay
Dues of commitment
Now permanently closed
For just dreaming
Of having a business
In T Town

In a test
Of their authority
They will soon
Draft students
Into dormitories
For they are minors
Incapable of taking care
Of themselves

So in a mandated
Selective service
The university will offer
It free services
Sorry, fee service
Funny I thought taxpayers
Paid their wages

Diversification is something
They teach you here
In a Greek system
Which if you abuse it
They will send the
Mini-council after you
For this dictatorship
Has its own political base

Choosing who can join
Houses of selective screening
Will create the inner society
Of what is politically correct

Those rejected are scorned
Ask a pizza owner
Whose son ran against them
And lost his business
For he was too independent
A plain student dreaming
Within his own minds power

We know in order
To get anywhere
In Bama Town
You have to party
For the Greeks love parties
Not subject to discipline

Being above reproach
Having the age of consent
We know that Bama
Are known for their parties
Nationally most us are
Democrat or Republican
I am mostly an independent
And I love to party
Politically

In a weak T Town City Council
Being dictated to
By an Temporary President
They will submit
Without any reservation

Yet at the University of Birmingham
Under Bama control
Who do not bend under
Bama’s manipulations
They have the status
Of a Hong Kong

For all the local citizens here
All partying must end
In the suspension
Of civil liberties

Having control
Of the Chamber of Commerce
They need not worry
About big business
Having the clout
To control them
Keeping little businesses
Afraid of the universities wrath
Was this not
An organization formed
To condone free enterprise
But who pays their dues?

In all the hazing
Free expression will get
Surely I will be
Banned for life
Sentenced to a life in exile
For speaking
Such blasphemy
Against Bama
And it puppet state

Worse yet
I might be forced
To root for Auburn
But they have
Their own problems there
By elements
Controlling their university

Let us hope
Universities never go into
The diaper business
For I want my kid
To be brought up
Independently

Thought: I hope this satirical poem can make both sides think of logical solutions to problems without taking away the freedoms we enjoy as Americans. We need to have a study on the problems facing both communities. We can make the alliance of Tuscaloosa and the University of Alabama form into a gem of understanding in the southern tradition of mutual self respect. My words may have sprayed acid which may be felt by all of T Town but by working together we can again root for both communities. I may root for Auburn which is a hard thing to do in Tuscaloosa. But when they play against each other, I will let my heart decide.  For you have to love two great teams who play together in fair play. Go Bama give them heck (Can not say the other H word here except on game day!)

Thought: In the name of education must we lose our civil rights. In the need for a sense of security, the protectors will imprisoned our minds with a sense of urgency. Protect us from the protectors! Take the time to evaluate life.

Thought: In life after college we are taught to dispense our education in diverse means, let us not control college as minors with a high school education.

Thought: For in the fraternity and sorority houses of colleges that see this as an attack. I plead for you to look into your heart for this is just an opening salvo in living life with others. We can be black and white but in my eyes, the colors blend into humanity. I would be a bigot, if I seen skin color as being a determining factor. But in the prejudice that blacks want extinguished in color blindness, they may be as guilty as anyone for reverse discrimination for condemning something and following their unintended policies. To be equal we have to look into the mind that sees no color as a determining factor.

D.Lester Young 2/1/2003
Tuscaloosa, AL
Copyright © D.Lester Young (White Eagle poetry)

© Copyright 2003 David Lester Young - All Rights Reserved
garysgirl
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Member Laureate
since 2002-09-29
Posts 19237
Florida, USA
1 posted 2003-02-02 10:47 AM


There are a lot of truths in this poem.....

"Love makes the world go around"
~~with love and hugs from Ethel~~  
                  

Midnitesun
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Empyrean
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647
Gaia
2 posted 2003-02-02 11:01 AM


To be equal we have to look into the mind that sees no color as a determining factor.
*******************************************
Exactly.
But there really is no such thing as 'reverse discrimination' is there?
I see all forms of discrimination as being equally destructive, as well as equally 'comforting' to those who feel they must isolate themselves from those who are different, in order to maintain their own identity.
Its all a form of self-ghetto-ization. Its all divisive.
I enjoyed the write. Keep pecking away at the locks and walls that separate and divide humanity.

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