Conscience, thought to belong to wrongdoing
regret
recrimination
atonement for sins
making good, for being bad.
He had been a member of the beautiful people
influential
a respected member of law enforcement
put away criminals – for years.
Retired early
successful.
A busy cafe
conspicuous arrival
faux classic motorbike and real leathers
fashionable dishevelment
looking all James Dean anti establishment
making bad, for being good.
There was something forlorn about it.
Education in the new millennium
eight year old and homework
iPad
television cartoons
family cat
younger sister
all more interesting … and much better fun.
“Now!” Grumbling plus presented threat
ameliorated by bribery –
“ if…”
War avoided – for today
mission accomplished and some minutes of quiet.
“ Um sweetheart …..
this doesn’t seem to have been done properly.”
Pause for intake of breath and
possible outbreak of war after all.
“ It doesn’t matter Mum
they’ll say it’s very good,
everyone’s is – all the time.
Self managed,
self-directed,
self driven,
the contemporary model(s).
Our mathematics teacher would’ve had a fit
as would educationalists with him
from the ark they’d have said
almost, but not quite
the army actually –
an engineer
ended up teaching by accident –
coaching cadets struggling with trigonometry, calculus, algebra.
An easy switch –
army to Catholic boy’s school in the 1950s
stayed on
and on.
Relentlessly good exam grades
ruthlessly tough classroom management
spit and polish, even the small things
“ aaah….I think its just ….. just a point of inflection .. so find the 2nd derivative
well done –
the second derivative WHAT ?
the second derivative SIR.”
Even the other teachers joined in,
if a chancer claimed forgetfulness
the rejoinder was invariably –
“oh yeah … did you forget to do your maths homework?”
Hell no.
Orphaned Islands (Un)poetry 