College
The transformers exploded at the ConEd plant
across the street from your apartment.
We stood in front of your window,
which was more like three windows,
and I said something about a helicopter.
We walked to the river.
There were candy wrappers in the trees
and people with black umbrellas.
And chairs in the river.
You said it was funny how you pushed me behind you
when the transformers exploded
across the street from your apartment.
Not funny because you did it,
because you didn’t have to think about doing it,
like muscle memory even though
it was something you’d never done before.
We watched a shirt roll across the soccer field,
straight over the goal line.
You asked me what I’d do if I wasn’t in college.
I thought about the Animal Collective song ‘College’
where they sing ‘you don’t have to go to college.’
I said I don’t know I’ve always been in school.