Fraternity Student, 1925
The rhetoric of self-discovery,
Enlightenment, becoming fully human,
Had mesmerized the nineteenth century
Into believing that a bunch of common
Teenagers cloistered in a college town
For years of drinking beer and reading Kant
Would come out having molted cap and gown
As a new species — one that wouldn’t want
Or need to prove that they are really men
By fighting duels in order to be scarred
With vicious slashes on the nose and chin,
To show the world that they’ve absorbed the hard
Curriculum no teacher understands
Is what their generation’s going to need:
Keeping quiet, following commands,
Stopping at nothing, knowing how to bleed.