--by GORDON C. WONG,
from "What Lies Beyond This
Door",*copyright 1987 by GORDON C.
WONGThose street corners are such funny places
My educating's sure let me down.
They're like a track meet of many jumps and races
With the judges in top hats and evening gowns.
To expand my vocabulary Reader's Digest taught me all
those words
That figure in what I see on TV:
Propaganda this, disinformation that
Commando this, democracy under the Panama hat
It's enough to keep all but Dirty Harry war
Of the differences between what you figure and what you see
(Makes me think I need more than a digest summary).
You know, I think (therefore I am)
I'm just gonna let it all go by me (at risk of libel)
As if education is one of those words I still don't
understand.
Knowing what I know, believing what I believe
(And passing it down like the family Bible)...
I think I'll let the President surprise me.
I figure there's no point in learning
If it don't contribute to my earning
Least of all at home where my darling's waiting for me.
I learned long ago the street corner's go no answers for that
So at home I take off my hat.
And that's, I figure
What's the meaning of this "being free."
For her, for all the kids, and for me.
--by GORDON C. WONG,
from "What Lies Beyond This
Door",*
copyright 1987 by GORDON C.
WONG