My sociology GCSE teacher.
________
“It’s diabolical! Horrendous!”
We used to do impressions
When you got into a state
About the state of the world.
You’d start: “the underclass”.
Might be the chapter heading
And at first, you’d teach us theory. But within minutes
A story of the village where you lived
Before the mines closed down.
The way your dad picked coal
Chips from his skin on bathnight
Blue flecks tattooed a night sky in reverse.
Or advertising. “What is it they use
To sell a cadbury’s flake? Yes, say it:
Sex!” And then, you’d audio describe
The sexist adverts twenty years ago.
The textbooks lay forgotten on the desk.
“Hidden curriculum! You won’t have noticed
How many of you girls chose cooking
Over woodwork? Why?
Aha you see. Now seven years ago
There was a lass. Your sister, weren’t it, love…”
And off we’d go into some anecdote.
the
I said I’d write my coursework on addiction.
And crime that pays for it
“But not just that. There’s lasses
Sell their bodies for a fix.
You find out if they get the help they need.
Who speaks for them?” In future lessons
You’d point me out to colleagues.
“I’ve this one doing drugs and vice!” You’d stagger
Left breathless by your wit.
In the exam
The asked us about Marx.
Functionalism, and media
We didn’t have a clue.
You’d hidden the curriculum so well
In stories;
It took me years to see
How much I learned from you.
Tom Juniper Poetry 