A desk has reason on its surface

But not always do they deserve us.

We project our feelings and our distaste;

We act like learning is all a race

But we can trust, if all else fails

A projection of knowledge where truth prevails.

 

And yet you teachers still do not see,

Knowledge is all I truly want to believe

This truth about schooling and what it means to learn

No longer should you let my face discern

How smart I am or how smart they are

I contradict them; I put their thoughts at war.

 

Girls can do anything guys can do better!

That’s how the saying goes; I’m that go-getter!

I don’t care about your latest Instagram post

Your life to me may remain a ghost

I don’t look like them, act like them, feel like them

But I sure as hell can work hard! Ahem!

 

Haven’t I already proven to you

That your insides—not out—are what make you who

You are, and will always be?

Don’t argue with me!

Accept the truth about school! About life!

Or does it just bother you too much to not be right?

 

You teachers of mine, you don’t understand

Learning was never meant to be bland

For those other kids, they don’t care like I do

I want to learn, to be part of the truth

The truth that has always been denied to me

The truth that, they tell us, can set us free!

 

We won’t know if you don’t show us

And I don’t understand why you make such a fuss

When we can’t do what you ask us to

When you’ve given no teaching or homework to do!

Don’t blame us for the lack of effort

You’ve given us plenty of room for retort!

 

Teach us something that will keep us plastered

To a screen, to your lips, to something! Blasted!

We are all great “someones”

But many think they are “no ones”

Help us prove them wrong damn it!

What have you gained from my timely fit?

 

I used to love this learning spree

It made me think of a future and, incredulously

I could imagine myself there, my nose in my books

Laboring, sulking, but happy in my corner nooks

I would be thanking you then

But now I look forward and ask myself when?

 

When will I be able to use

The useless knowledge I’ve been taught in school?

Not that I don’t care, no of course I still do

Just, remind me again when we’ll get to the truth?

That truth about life that school should help provide

What change can I make in you teachers’ lives?

 

I was taught to love learning

I go to school with great yearning

For knowledge, for character, for personal jokes,

To remember, to harness, to put a stick in the stokes

Of that wheel that keeps turning, luring me in,

The cycle of teachers that has turned children to sin…