CONSTITUTIONAL BULLYING

05-09-2006

The happiest days of your life? Not if you're a teacher. The Stirrer's resident poet Brendan Hawthorne is in a class of his own as he marks the start of the new school term. And don't forget you can find out more about his work and other local rhymesters at www.poetrywednesbury.co.uk

Today there will be other victims

in the daily ritual of constitutional bullying

Mr Johnson will be wrongly accused

of the inappropriate use of language

and will be suspended until found innocent

but will still lose his job and his home

because shit sticks whether it's true or not

Mrs Abrahams will start the growth of her cancer

due to poor eating habits, stress and lack of sleep

It will cost her more than a summer holiday

if she's to break free of her destructive cells

and get on with a full and active life after teaching

Mr Smith will dive to the bottom of his whiskey

again tonight in his effective tail spin towards

alcoholism and will try to dismiss its effect

on performance targets now askew in his sights

He'll continue to work on the way that he looks

first thing in the morning by papering over the cracks

again and again

Miss Canforth will breakdown today

and will not be fixed forsix months

Her mind blunted by the continuous pounding

of policy, reports and value-added measures

She will cry uncontrollably for weeks

and not get out of bed until she feels safe again

and is free from the padding of Valium

Mr Jenkins will go home tonight to find a letter

from his soon to be ex-wife explaining that

she has taken the kids because

he has no time for them or her

Ms Jones will comfort him

after all she's been through it all

and never bothered again

because the pain was too great.

But still the government continues its rally cry

not concerned about the real asking price

Destroying individuality in the name of the collective

only interested in attainment targets and shallow image

Its commitment sounding similar to blitzkrieg

Similar to Nuremburg obsessions fuelled on blind ego

with no hint of private confessionals

Neutralise.

Neutralise!

NEUTRALISE!

Place no value on professionalism

Politicise.

Politicise!

POLITICISE!

Because after all it's only

Education.

Education!

EDUCATION!

(Note! All names are fictitious to protect the innocent!)

© Brendan Hawthorne 2006

Brendan runs regular poetry evenings in the Black Country.