The Institution
It only seems like a university.
The long cool arcades,
The green quadrangles,
The tower in which conservative think tanks are housed
In order to figure out what to do about, say,
The declining American birth rate.
But really it's an institution -
These arcades are the long monotonous hallways
Of an institution, these quads are courtyards
Overlooked by guards in the tower
That soars above the institution,
And what appear to be students and teachers
Are incarcerees with different privileges,
The students having more than the teachers.
The tenured faculty are the golden ones,
The ones who've bribed the guards
And are given all they desire.
Indeed, they don't even have to be here.
My sentence on the other hand was ten years.
I am coming to the end.
The day I leave, I will look back
Towards the tower bristling with long guns
And through their scopes people who hate me
For exposing the fact that their university is
An institution
Will watch me wave goodbye.