Philosophic Topics

I've never much been compelled
to read a lot of philosophy -

in fact, I avoided the topic
in college precisely because
I didn't want it ruined
liked so many others,

and certainly didn't want
someone telling me I was
right or wrong or forcing
another flimsy assignment
paper on some basic
reporting, which is all
most teachers really seem
to be interested in
(because they'll know
if that stuff's accurate,
but won't admit that
they can't keep up
with your own thoughts).

(Everyone's got an opinion
until someone says it's wrong,
but that's why it's called
an opinion, and why we
should focus a little more
on that, because opinions
are the basis of philosophy.)

Like poetry, philosophy doesn't
come easily as interesting
reading material, because
a lot of it just isn't all
that interesting, no matter
what others have to say
about it.

In fact, philosophy is very much
something teachers could sit around
talking about (which is one
version of what a teacher
should be doing, that or letting
their students do it for them),
because it almost doesn't matter
what the original philosophers
actually said, so much as what
they were trying to.

But all this is a roundabout way
of saying that like poetry,
philosophy is certainly something
that I like to dabble in,
liberally mixing into my poetry,
actually (you may have noticed)
just because that's the kind
of guy I am.

I would very much like to find
people who are interested
in talking about life, not
so much complaining about it
(although it's fun and I
certainly do my share of it)
as attempting to answer
the reasons why, the same
as anyone, the same thing
people have been doing
for as long as people
have been around.

But those people,
even though
they're everywhere,
are very hard
to find.

So I write about it.