Originally written in 2013
‘a muttered prayer’
hey hi yes hello
i’d like to know
the secrets of the universe
i’d like to know what life means
yeah i know i’m only seventeen, but
hey i’ve got to go to college
cos you know
everybody else is
i need to figure out who i am
right now
so i can tell the universities
in six hundred words or fewer
i need to find the answers please
because my future starts on this page
well, after i get into the college of my dreams
so i can get a job—no,
pursue my career
and be successful
…and make enough money
to one day pay off my mortgage
on the house i had to buy
to prove i really made it
even after the student loans i—
oh lord…
what was i asking again?
oh yes hello
i’d like to know (pretty please)
what it all means
why am i here
what am i meant to do
what should i do…
and anyway i’m sure discovering
the meaning to it all will get me
right where i need to be
getting into an ivy league
so when i apply for employment my résumé will
rest atop that gleaming monochrome pile
of people, condensed into their most digestible form—
two pages or fewer
(for, as you know, efficiency
is key in communication)
so again, can you tell me?
what life’s supposed to mean?
cos i think it’d make
one hell of an essay
on this application:
‘what do you expect to be doing in ten years’ time?’ (i can’t sleep)
…dreams?
yeah, i have dreams but
i need to pursue a more practical direction for myself
i mean
i’ll come back to them
one day
but first, a highly demanded degree
of course, i won’t forget them
safe within the furthest corner
of my mind
(the dead dreams
think of all those
cold dead dreams
lost
in translation:
it will all come
out to nothing
and still we
shall be left here
to mourn our losses)
Nerdery & Nostalgia 