An old hockey stick
Cut off the broken bottom
Tennis ball affixed
A first grader said
“Looks like a thing-a-ma-jig
What do you call it?”
"Black mark remover
Is the name it’s been given"
"That is a cool name"
(You, custodians
Know exactly what it is
And what it is for)
Gotta go to school it's the same old story
teach me a lesson would be good for me
learning all the rules five days of the week
don't fall behind don't think don't speak
gotta go to work it's the same sad story
get me a job that's sure to bore me
working for a wage five days of the week
don't step out of line don't think don't speak
gotta go to church it's the same sick story
wed me a wife who's bound to hound me
listen to her ***** each day of the week
don't fool around don't think don't speak
it's the way of the world the way of man
follow the herd don't say a word
all we can do is do all we can
so let's all dance to the same algorithm
everyone even you and me
dictated and played by the powers that be
me and you what have we got to lose
if we stay in line we'll be fine
and dance to the same algorithm and blues
I was glad to escape the school run by demon spawn
thrilled to extricate myself from this hell-hole
disengage from a hateful situation
distangle myself from the mess they call normal
I am pretty sure the students feel the same way
Their “no hate” campaign is working.
Brain research shows that if you say “don’t climb that tree”
a person must picture themselves climbing the tree
before they can visualize not climbing the tree.”
No hate is certainly working.
I limped out of there in a listless spiritless way.
Unable to save anyone but myself.
Blue collar school,
Blue collar play,
Blue collar children,
Blue collar praise,
Blue collar words,
Blue collar phrased,
Blue collar work,
Blue collar pay,
Blue collar union,
Blue collar say,
Blue collar terraced,
Blue collar glazed,
Blue collar town,
Blue collar ways,
Blue collar nights,
Blue collar days,
Blue collar skies,
Blue collar greys.
White collar night school,
White collar college days,
White collar degree,
White collar knowledge pays,
White collar nine-to-five,
White collar maze,
White collar union,
White collar raise,
White collar semi,
White collar double glazed,
White collar mowed lawn,
White collar baize,
White collar supper time,
White collar bordelaise,
White collar children,
White collar praise,
While collar world,
White collar haze.
Blue Collar, White Collar,
Whatever we might say,
We can’t forget those Blue collar days,
We can’t change all our Blue collar ways.
I hated all those lessons and rules
Playing sports in the cold and the rain
Exams, tests and essays in schools
l won’t need this stuff in my brain
It’s a waste of my time, it's just lame.
I am leaving school in just one week
No more boredom and tectonic plates
A good job, with some training I seek
Will I miss going to school with my mates
I wonder now what my future awaits
An interview can be a terrifying thing
He said, “Why not a single GCSE?”
“To this role, what do you bring?!”
Five years, I had nothing to please
Seven interviews and now, great unease.
Starting work at eight in the morning
Not what I imagined it would be.
Mucking out sheds, won't be that boring
I look back now, and my errors I see
Will my mates have careers, unlike me?
Now I do the same things every day
I miss school, and my mates, I’m sad
In the cold and the rain, I now dismay
and think of the opportunities that I had
To waste all that time… “was I mad?!”
If only I'd concentrated on school
Had fun, but tried when it mattered
If only I could have followed their rule.
All that knowledge I could have gathered
My dreams and future are they shattered?
Staring at my learners in my four-cornered room
I see the dynamics of life as I zoom into
The shadow that’s not displayed
Some smoke weed
Not realizing that they will bleed in the workplace
Some enjoy cough syrup with a cool drink
Not realizing that this simple addition will
Change the transaction in their lives
Later, it turns to tablets yet learners
Think that they can control their habit
Like a rabbit, some will hop from experiment to experiment
Keeping themselves intoxicated while growing in stupidity
Staring at my learners in my four-cornered room
I see some learners grow in intelligence
Some study daily
Knowing that they will enjoy their future job
Their passion shines through in the classroom
Because they do the hard work when no one is looking
Staring at my learners in my four-cornered room
I see the lazy ones trying to feed off the strong ones
Procrastination will lead to a weak spell
This is something your future will tell you
Break free because you are the future and
It all starts in this four corned room
Mark Frank
Copyright 2023
In K-5, K-8 or K-12 is drained
the curiosity from eager brains
Then off to college most folks go
where Truth is disseminated from Moscow
A nursing home's a spruced-up jail
from which residents would love to bail ...
In between, we're on the job every day
where we're overworked and underpaid
You reap what you sow
But if it was sabotaged,
Will it really, ever grow?
I fail to understand how
The seedling I did plant now
Was decayed when it erupt
As if it had been fed cyanide, stead water.
I must face what has grown
And accept what has shown
It was planted with love
And it did not grow a trove
But a murky brown of the soil where it lay.
How, in fact, must I make way
For such a fact, I should dismay
That I sang to it all-day
And still, it did not display.
Now it is time to collect
All of which I have wrecked
Just like the time in effect
I have managed to affect
the plant which I did sow.
His pedigree
was his degree
Rhodes scholar selection
Yet once in the fray
he was easy prey ~
Mettle, reality assayed
Nursey school and kindergarten
were filled with hours of play
'Graders' first through third
the 'Three R's' all day
The rest of school was one big blur
some teachers - ma'am; others - sir
When we finished college at age 22
we felt ready, thought we knew what to do
Only to find disappointment in our workplace debut
~ What we'd learned all those years just wouldn't do
I want to paint your nails Mrs. Kay.
No, I say. It might hurt.
She rolls her eyes and says, "Painting your nails doesn’t hurt!"
I say," I have heard it is like having your hair cut. Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"
She slaps herself in the forehead.
She is nine, and is easily lured in.
We have a little talk.
She is pro nail polish; I am con, telling her I think it will hurt.
She is trying to reason with me; I pretend I am fearful.
She is a drama queen, and totally overreacts.
We are friends at school.
She wants to be in my office all the time.
She has NO problems; high self esteem, but she loves me.
I had asked for her at this time and her teacher said she could not come.
Ten minutes later the teacher sent her down.
I am sure she was bugging the teacher to let her come.
The coach walks by, and she says, "“There is the coach. I am going to ask her if it hurts to paint your nails.”
She opens the door and yells, "Coach, does it hurt to paint your nails?”
I do not even have to nod my head.
The coach says, “Oh, yes. It hurts as if you are on fire.”
The eight-year old leaves us saying, “you are both crazy”.
We smile at each other.
Whatever happened to competition
Educators today stress collaboration
The students learn how to cooperate, to get along ~
When they go to work, it's "Do your job" or "So Long"
New semester.
Did my courses run?
Oh yeah, but too many.
Work on my syllabi.
I promise I won’t cry.
The night before class.
I pace the kitchen.
Sending prayers up.
Are you listening;
Please make my students be nice.
Calling my friends for advice.
First day of class.
Please impress them.
Some activity.
Get to know them.
At night memorize their names.
Two students named the same. (Always)
Long semesters.
Trudge across campuses.
In the rain and snow.
Am I at the right school-do you know?
My Google Assistant gave up long ago.
End of semester.
All my students cry.
I break my promise.
I let them see me cry.
We will be friends for a long time.
New semester.
Did my courses run? …
Sourpuss People
Sourpuss people are the opposite of sweet
And can turn a sunny day into mincemeat.
Their smiles are forced and bitterly insincere,
Revealing no sense of humour or good cheer.
They sneer and wink and chatter behind your back
And rain on your parade every chance they get,
Complaining and griping about this and that
While arguing with nothing good to extract.
Their cold hearts are mean because they seek power
And bully others like they’re chopped liver.
And though it’s wrong to get mad and retaliate,
Sometimes lines are drawn when there’s no other way.
It’s incorrect behaviour to fight with them
Because others might not see the difference.
She introduced herself to the staff as their new vice-principal.
It was not the truth,
Not quite a lie yet either.
In truth, she had
Warned the principal
She was after his job.
The principal did not get to choose
His own staff, and human resources
Had hired and sent him this
maladroit interloper in July.
He knew her quite well by the
Time the rest of the staff arrived
In August.
She was rapidly labelled an
unwelcome fussbudget. In
hours the staff knew to stay away from
her in droves, not listening
to her ravings or keen suggestions
for improvement on their inept performances.
Her most confident area, of course was self-confidence.
She had it in oodles and arches,
And she displayed it
With the skill of
a clumsy peacock, holding an exceptionally casual bull horn.
The last they heard her about her, she had complained to HR that her frustration level was through the roof, they were boobs, and she was leaving.
A little celebration good-bye party was held in her honor two weeks after she left
at the principal's house.
Now who forgot to invite her?
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