could’ve stayed all day

there’s what you can do
and what you are doing
but there’s no sure-fire way
to keep them separate.
so maybe I’d just had
too much to drink,
took on too much
like the storm-drains outside
dripping rain.
and so I waited.
I could’ve left at any time.

but I stayed,
stayed with the marine
who was abused by those
he’d enlisted to serve,
stayed with my counselor
while he folded a paper airplane,
stayed with everyone eating
bad college food.
I’d chosen
this, this stress
on my physical capabilities, this retention
of what I believed was socially acceptable.
of course, I just had to piss.
and besides, I really dug what
they all had to say.

sometimes the most significant
difference between
what you do to yourself
and what others do
to you is
as small as
the ballpoint
on a pen.
and it winded down.
I got right out of there.
then, with a gush,
the air blew the autumn leaves
across the campus.