Ninety-Seven

Grant, and not the dead president,                         

written and paid out, and we are not                      

told about it until after the fact,                           

now flying blind, minus our devices,                        

and we are subtracting from our own                     

limited timelines in the land   

of the walking dead, just floating by,                      

awaiting the day when the rule                                 

of eighty-five kicks in, because                                  

we don’t teach anymore,        

it’s just glorified babysitting after all!

Reviews

[Zoe Jay]

It's actually quite hard to review this poem, because it is simple and direct.. this says everything that needs to be said. it is particularly effective as it is delivered in this one continuous passage, one thought, as it were. Punchy, effective closing line, a colorful and evocative protest.

[Chris]

Truest write I've seen of how education isn't.

Chris

[zig]

i remember when i was student teaching, a high school in north denver, and i was oull into what they called a "displacement" class. a class where they sent kids who were disruptive in a regular classroom, and basically i was instructed to babysit them. i remember getting into trouble for teaching them how to fill out job applications, starting their own class magazine, doing "educational" activities with them. and i remember getting a bad review for it, i still feel sick just thinking about. i'm convinced our government wants public education to fail. i can't see the logic in their policies, other then to sabotage the system. i wish i knew why they want to hill education... or perhaps i'm seeing it all wrong. anyway, sorry about the rant, your poem touched a nerve i guess. very well said my friend.

zig

Politics and education are big subjects and difficult to approach in poems. Often while writing about them, it can come off as being manifesto like or polemical. Being outright and saying it directly is one way, but it doesn't necessarily generate feeling or provoke a strong emotional response from your reader. I'm not saying art is not polemical, because most of the time there are hidden levels of subversion that maintain a political or philosophical stance. What I am saying, however, is that when you're overly polemical, it takes away from the value of the art and doesn't offer readers a mirror in which they can see, feel, or hear themselves in. With that said, I like your energy and your passion for social issues, and I hope to see some more of your work. Thanks.

[joshua deathdealer]

Sounds awful...Nice work.

[Nobody.]

ah, I see the collision of politics and education are eating you up today. can't blame ya. it's serious horseshit lately.

why can't you just tell the kids who ain't making it to find a hammer or a wrench or a boat to work on? it would be a better world. there's nothing wrong with a blue collar life. it's noble. some people just suck at books and such.

anyway, well said.

[Joiedevivre]

hmm hmm... sounds frustrating. Clever, clever you are and good at winding it.