After the College Days

finger hole in my side pocket
no surprise just where I got it
every year I changed my gender
really that's all I remember
Fisher's Market, Port of Groton
playing large and smelling rotten
met a girl who sewed my hole up
major liberal work of art ...but...
I know I
paid good cash to holy jesus
but still my
scrawny ass just fell to pieces
sometime after...
after the college days

lots of sex with virgin maidens
eating flesh of burning pagans
tried to hold the job I'd paid for
'one I wasn't ever made for
pitched a tent on Tamalpais
spent the summer semi-conscious
grew to be a vagrant scholar
changing gender for a dollar
although I
could articulate my thesis
but still I
blazed my trails with Reese's Pieces
but now it's
after the college days

settled in to having babies
parent-teacher-conference-ladies
figured "low-down" was the safe way
other than out on the beltway
small affairs with tiny dancers
Liberace knew the answers
kept them in his bedroom closet
laughing to the bank deposit
although I
never owned such pretty dresses
but still I've
done some things that no one guesses
but now it's
after the college days

never did smoke crack for pleasure
dig too deep for buried treasure
not there laying on the surface
couldn't serve much useful purpose
now my dog is past his prime
I want to travel back in time
we'd buy a shovel, pick and axe
and dig a hole and just relax
although I
understand that time is master
how can I
when everything keeps moving faster
'cause now it's
after the college days

should have bought that fender bass
that came complete with strap and case
and hitched up to Ontario
to ride the jet stream in the snow
and put the quarter in the slot
and grab a thousand kilowatt
and blow myself in tiny sections
spread my life in all directions
although I
understand what saving grace is
but still I
wonder where that Fender bass is
'cause now it's
after the college days