Snapchat

Oh dear!
I fear I’ll seem so old,
A grumpy, sour-faced, middle aged scold
And with this world I’m out of kilter
But I detest you
Snap-chat filter!

I liked my daughter’s face much more,
The way it looks in life before
Your harmless app just rearranged her
Morphed into a plastic stranger!

I know you’ll say it’s just some fun
But I can’t be the only one
Who wonders if it’s trying to say
Your face should look another way.

If only I could make you see you just the way you look to me.
This selfie-pose you girls perfected leaves personality neglected.
This airbrushed skin, tiny chin
Nose that almost isn’t there
Vacant, doe-eyed, big-eyed stare
Can’t come close, cannot compare
To the face I see each day
Dear to me in every way.

I just must trust that, being clever
You’ll not be fooled by this, not ever
To start to think your face should be
Like this re-pixeled parody.

I guess that all I mean to say is
When you love a face this way, it
Makes you feel, well, kind of cross
That, rather than just adding gloss,
This cyber bully should see fit
To make you look a simpering twit!

---

The Land of Facebook

I’m always smiling on Facebook
Witty and Laughing Out Loud.
I’ve got lots of friends here on Facebook
Hundreds and loads – quite a crowd.

My children don’t argue on Facebook
They’re always adoring and happy.
I’m never a grumpy-faced cow here,
Never short-tempered or snappy.

The sun always shines here on Facebook.
We’re often on hikes in the wood.
My life is one great round of parties and fun
My children are always SOOOOOO good.

It’s not that I’m lying,
Not really,  not quite,
It’s just that I’m showing me
In my best light.

I wish I was REALLY as nice as I look
And always lived here,  in the Land of Facebook.

 

A thank you to your family, for lending us your heart.
Your heart must be ginormous for you gave each child a part.
The thing about a teacher’s heart: the more they give away,
The more they have to give again, each and every day.
You’ve shared your love of reading and number magic too.
But the best thing that they’ll take away, is memories of you.
It isn’t just the facts they know that make them feel more clever.
(There may be just a thing or two will stick with them for ever.)
You might have taught them eight times eight; cleared sick up off the floor.
They’ve memorised times tables; but you’ve taught them so much more.
For when these kids find life gets tough (and sometimes life can stink)
You taught these children how to love, and showed them how to think.
And there’s a chance that years from now, although they’ve no idea how,
They’ll give that tough job one more try, or spread their wings and really fly
Because of something that you said; just one kind word that’s in their head.
And lit a spark
And banished dark.

And that’s the real treasure: that SATs can never measure:
You taught them how to add (and help a friend who’s sad);
You taught them how to write (and lit their inner light);
You gave them skills they’re going to need
(And in each heart you sowed a seed).
It’s not just stuff they need to know,
You gave them tools they need to grow.

If you reflect
You might detect
They taught you some stuff too
And you might find
In heart and mind
They’ve left their mark on you.

---

OFSTED

thou art the worm in the heart of education

You’ve turned into a parasite
Clinging on with all your might.
You’re poison slowly drip drip dripping.
You’re strangle ivy grimly gripping.
You are a Wrong.

But we are strong.

We’ll get better
and when we do
You’ll publicise your twisted view
That this strength came because of you.
You’ll whisper in the MPs ear,
“The schools are bad, you need us here.”
And who, at schools, can say, “Not true,
It’s not because but despite you.”
You knocked us down, sewed seeds of doubt.
You took our best, and threw it out.
It’s us that finds the strength to try
To squeeze more blood from stones run dry.
It’s teachers turn up every day
Shine lights in worlds that you’ve turned grey.

Through fear, we dance this grey man’s dance
Too scared to point out there’s a chance
The true fault’s how it’s all assessed.
The standard is a faulty test
That values just what it can measure
And takes no count of real treasure,
Like open minds, and hearts excited
Passions lit, fires ignited.

There must be better ways than this –
HMI’s dementor kiss.
One day I hope the world gets wise
To OfSTED’s dark self-serving lies.

 

Life

‘Life is like a journey’, at least that’s what they say
I guess, as an analogy for learning, that’s okay;
Though we’d describe it better, I’m sure that you’ll agree,
As a journey on a cruise ship through a sparkling silver sea.
And I hear the food’s amazing,
and the air is sweet perfume…

But we’re never going to find out,
Cos we’re in the engine room…

And all we’re doing every day is shovelling the coal;
It’s dark and we’re exhausted, and nowhere near our goal.
And I get a sinking feeling, and I’m trying not to panic,
But it’s a possibility this ship is the Titanic!

And even if, by lucky chance, we make it safe to shore
We might just find we can’t get back to where we were before
I’ll turn to my fellow stoker, my face obscured by grime,
And wonder if I knew him once, once upon a time.

It’s time to cut the engines, to say ‘Oh what the heck?!
What’s the worst thing that can happen if we all go up on deck?’
Go where the currents take us, let’s forget the race,
Take a look around us and just enjoy this place.

Sod the bloody engines!
Let’s go for a swim
In shark-infested waters
On a wistful childish whim.

Sod our destination!
Have adventures on the way.
Single-minded purpose leaves us little time to play.

They say that life’s a journey, let’s be more exact
Life is work and work is hard, and that is just a fact.
But I’ve done work I’ve hated, and I’ve done work I love
And I know I’m the lucky one, cos when push comes to shove,
There’s moments when it’s clear to me, there’s times I have a choice:
Look down in gloom to bleak despair – or look up and rejoice.

Let’s jump ship together, look up and grab the rope
That’s hanging from a sky ship flying on the winds of Hope.
For even on the darkest day in rain and pain and gloom
Love can give me wings to fly from any engine room.

---

Fire-flies

Like fire flies, we are wrong to think our lives long
In the lazy hazy summer days, when we are young.

Look up, and see a wondrous sight:
Light after beautiful twinkling light.
Shining like day
Lighting our way.

How did I not see before
The leading light our elders bore?
Our first teachers, older, wiser,
Patiently playing the role of adviser.
And yet, I let their books sit on my shelf
Inventing new rules all for myself.

Darkening skies. I lately perceive
My guiding lights are seeming to leave.
Each one lost at too much cost
Their learning gone, their lessons tossed
Gone from the world.
Hurled.

What draws each light up to the sun?
Shooting past me, so fast
Were their labours truly done?

Some sad lights don’t shoot, but fade
Their eyes confused, their minds un-made.
The tangled webs of lives un-spun.

How did I not see
This, the greatest tragedy?

It’s always ever been this way.
But it’s not
It’s not OK.

One spark of hope I think I see.
Could it be, is it me?
Does the sun get a bit more bright
With each and every joining light?
Dare I hope? Is there a way
Some blessed guiding light might stay?

When we’re dead and truly gone
Does the love we give live on?
When, at the end, our lives our done
Might we bequeath a brighter sun?

---

But one

I am but one
One pixel in a 7 mega mega pixel picture
Just one, in such a vast array.
Does one pixel even have a say
In what the whole picture may be?
Can one pixel ever even see
The big picture
Restricted as its view is?

7 billion pixels seem close to an infinity
One pixel more, or just one less,
Can’t make creation from this mess
Where every pixel gets free choice
Of what its nascent colour is.
It doesn’t know
It has no say
If dark, dark night or brightest day.

Why bother then?
Why even try?
Why?
I am but one.

But

I am one.
And, if I choose, I can be
One spark reflected in the sea,
One tiny little bit of sun.
For no other dot, not even one
Can choose my hue
For just like you
I can be,
Any shade I wish to be.

And each day brings another chance
To light my light
To dance my dance.
And if, today, I’m feeling grey
Tomorrow is another day.

You’re not made one shade
And  fixed in varnish.
You’re made of stuff
That doesn’t tarnish.
You’re made of stuff
That’s free to glow
With any colour that you know.

And if, around you, all is stark
Dark
Your speck of sun, seen from afar
Might look a little like a star.

And if, around you, everyone
Decides to be a speck of sun
Just think how bright it could become.

I am but one
But, I am one
And as I’m one, I will be
The best one I can try to be.

---

One moment in time

How often have I thought, “If I could but be caught
Out of time,
In one time,
For all time,
Make it now!”

But how?

One moment cannot last forever; no sword can sever the hands of time.

You wish that time would freeze, and you could squeeze this moment:
Hold it tight, print the sight: save it, engrave it
Tattooed in your brain to visit again
And again.

This one moment when you suddenly see that there can never
Never EVER
be
better than this.

Angels kiss

What triggers this moment for you?

An incredible view at the end of a climb?
Knowing that I’m here by your side?
The perfect ride? A blazing sky?
The way birds fly?
A wedding? A baby?
The feeling that maybe you’re touching God’s grace?
The smile on a face that’s only for you?
A small hand in your hand?
A love that is new?
Family? Friends? Travel or home?

The list never ends. We could fill up a tome
Or two
Yet, the moments are few.

And only you can open your eyes and realise
THIS
Is your moment. The moment for you
To seize
And squeeze
And hope lasts forever but

they never do.

For just as you try to distil the feeling
It’s stealing away.

The light changes. The smile goes. Time passes. The child grows.
The image drifts in my head, the moment is dead
And gone.
The world moved on.
Bright fades to black.
We can never go back.

And as it fades, are you afraid that THAT was IT?
Life’s best bit?
Gone, behind
And never NEVER will you find
That feeling again?

and there will be pain?

Don’t be afraid.

The memory’s made.
The moment was real. The feelings you feel live on in your heart
And that’s a great start.
Build your store of hope, and you will cope with more,
For you know that tomorrow may well bring you sorrow
or pain
Again.

But there’s your reason to carry on
Even though THAT good time’s gone, another one will come along.
It will.

Be still.

Only one rule is clear and explicit
Keep your heart open – you don’t want to miss it!