A Book Divided: On Truly Understanding Powerful Books

I've only tasted knowledge,
and I've not heard of a real College.

I've been to plenty of schools,
and better than most I know their tools.

Bullies, Grades, Punishment, Shame, Threat,
and above all, Debt.

While you remained seated,
you have been and lied to, and robbed, and cheated.

If I may,
I know what they say...

Lesson number one,
you are not a Genius little one.

Lie number two,
I will be fairly grading you.

And insult number three,
I am holier than thee.

It as all a lie,
it was a lie they knew your were going to buy.

They have you the moment you measure your own soul,
with grades... they have you whole.

But you've been a Genius all along,
that's why school is wrong.

Hawking and Einstein were no smarter than you,
they just learned more the more they knew.

Hawking reversed time in his experiment,
and Einstein was riding a train to his merriment.

So please tell me where is this Genius that you are not,
...Oh yes, you are a lot smarter than you thought.

I think as long as schools are a dog and pony show,
we should think of them as foe.

And their tests cause harm to books too,
as they split them in two.

It maybe that what you learn of a book in school,
come graduation, you will forget as a rule.

I think it is the norm,
that we are unable to read until our first camping storm.

I remember a thunder so vile that the ancient dune shook,
and I remember reacting out for my book.

Robinson Crusoe,
by Daniel Defoe.

A copy I found at the Ludington antique store,
that I hang on to thorough the storm's roar.

I've listened to hundreds of books before, and hundreds after,
but until then I could not imagine Robinson Crusoe's laughter.

When you read a book in school, or for school,
they are truing it against you as another tool.

As you can't have the experience needed to understand,
they are forcing you to pretend.

That is what a dog an pony show is like,
they just cannot help but to think you are all alike.

So, "Can you connect with a book without adventure?"
as far as I am willing to venture... Probably not.

You will only truly understand to what your most powerful book alludes,
if the book is the only other universe in the woods.

Few hundred books after that, without fanfare or surprise,
you just ... become wise.