They call me PhD. 
 
Because I'm trying to get 
An advanced degree. 
 
I’m trying to achieve 
Prosperity. 
 
But 
I'm also exploring 
What it means to be 
Free. 
 
I'm doing this only partly 
Because of me. 
 
I'm trying to take care of 
My family.
 
Burning hoops define the carnival troops 
Filled with inititates of the Temple, 
Simply attempting to gain a little bit of fame, 
Or noteriety,
The game being what it is, 
Incisions into the soul 
By mental razors in search of intellectual gold 
Is akin to renouncing one's ties to normal life, 
Announcing one's intention to set one's sights 
On the inner light 
Of moral and ethical perfection 
Called to a higher goal, 
Eyes rising beyond the mundane, 
Approximating the elevation of the profane.
 
Philosophy's fatal draw an elixir of illusion, 
A burning man of straw,
Standing tall, 
Flames laughing into the darkness 
Promising dry bones a stony interment, 
Fomenting prescience in unruly sessions: 
The gloaming descends as initiates pretend 
To understand the foundation of nations,
Assuming knowledge and cultural hegemony is understood, 
Cultivating the Other, just another term for the 'Hood, 
And those who reside,
Therein. 
 
Spending time in the halls of Academia can cause mania, 
In the form of an inordinate desire to pontificate 
And an unconscionable urge to masturbate freely, 
Releasing the creative seed, 
Ejaculating blood in the attempt to prevent the flood of...
Degenerate incriminations...
Surely the result of a forgotten libation 
Resulting in the cessation of Ancestral protection. 
 
A convection of light and sumptous fare, 
Less satisfying but at least free of 
The desires of the dead and dying.
 
Observing the ceremonial sacrifice is like 
Dining on air and ice,
Unsatisfactory unless one is 
A yogin of the eternal lineage, 
One spoken for by powers and principalities, 
With mentalities abased by greed and 
The elevation of mind over soul, 
The price to enter the professorial fold is, 
Then, 
The sum of one's spiritual goals. 
With Eyes Wide Shut I see vistas undreamt, 
Of dark debauchery and demonic depredations 
Fulfilled by the will of nations already lost 
To the sins of Setians.
 
I doubt whether the cost is worth it; 
The price is too high, the bill's come nigh. 
 
Due in flesh, to pass the test requires 
Sacrifice and the death of someone blessed. 
 
Some poor, unfortunate acolyte, 
An imprudent student imbued with truth, 
To be bled instead by soulless scions 
Engorged with prions, 
Hearkening back to 
A history of cannibalistic attacks upon 
Innocent prey, 
Of which we hardly hear whispers, 
Today. 
 
To this tradition I pay tithe and toll, 
But I refuse to sell my soul to gain my PhD.
 
That's not the reason why 
I'm trying to get an advanced degree. 
 
When
it comes down to it, 
I really don't care about 
Material prosperity.
 
I'm more concerned with 
The necessity of being truly free. 
 
That's what this degree means to me. 
 
And what it means to my family.