here's an answer for you

iowastudent
here’s an answer for you
by emma blowgun
i sit through my college classes,
i have talked and shared myself with my
classmates; these peers of mine,
we are a small part of the community college
percent of our generation, and oh yes,
we are going to live in the same neighborhoods
someday, in the lower-middle class parts of town
with sixty-year old houses and the lawns yellowed.
we are the construction workers, the nurses and the
kitchen employees, we are taught how to become
these things but we are not taught how to overcome
the university kids who live only twenty minutes away, and
oh yes, they will be our bosses and leaders and their houses will
be strong and new and their lawns will be professionally cared for,
and the university kids will marry young and have children that will
have nicer things than the children of me and my peers.
we are the underside of eastern iowa life.
we go unnoticed.
we are melting like insects stuck in lye. we are preparing for our
future.
that’s what i tell people when they ask why kirkwood students
are notorious drinkers.

0 thoughts on “here's an answer for you

  1. Few years ago I was taking community college classes online. Pretty sure I was carrying the goat hill tavern on my back by that point. Thanks for this.

  2. though i am likely a class level or two down (socially, having stopped at a mere h.s. diploma), my appreciation for this piece is immense. it would be nice to have such words handy when asked these kinds of questions. miss blowgun, you put it well.

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