dinner #18

Some people like enchilada sauce,
some people like ketchup on their tamales.
Everybody’s different,
what are you going to do.
Retreat into a world of nothing.
The Marine boy back from Hawaii
is going to bitch when he says
missing class last Thursday
was not his choice though I believe
he wasn’t drafted to explode things.
And one girl’s going to act like
class is the Oprah Winfrey show,
and a boy’s going to say we’re talking
too much about feelings.
I know the way everybody’s the same,
and I might as well play
a tape recording of the last time.
I’m going to keep listening,
I’m going to keep smiling,
then come home and
die over dinner though
by then everyone but me
forgot the whole thing.
I’ll keep pretending I’m teaching,
you keep pretending you’re studenting.