I woke up on a bed of cool, cooked rice
it was The Summer of Love
it was the summer after, actually
the summer after The Summer of Love
and the Richmond District was…
just Richmond
we were all headed back to school
our hearts were breaking
fumbled omelet hearts, ours
a top ten university with two arrests
four failed classes
and a gap year
they were crueler, better times
what did it cost you
seriously, I’m curious
how many hours did you work in a week
I fell for a professor
in the anthropology department
please don’t start with the names
god help me, I’ll die soon
we read everybody in those days
men
you read things by men
who you stalked, recall
that was one of the two arrests
LSD could have changed the world
it really could have
when cousin Randall was deployed
I’m getting a drink
do you—
no, never mind
we were robbed of youth
all of us robbed
that’s what I need you to understand
you have an election sign
for a génocidaire
in the yard—here
I’ve made tea
robbed
I know
you don’t know anything about it
okay
I don’t know
explain it again
and then it’s absolutely time for bed
everything was cool and soft
like cooked rice
