Poem: "Inferior Education"

Inferior Education 


Today, for the first time,
you struck your mother on the cheek.

     Yosano Akiko, “Auguste’s Single Strike”


Three things I was not taught as a child
but wish:

to strike my mother on the cheek
to contradict my teacher in public
to throw rocks at cops.

Now I am an indifferent citizen, keep-at-home critic,
afraid to go up against someone smarter.
I shout at my mother when she doesn’t come to the point,
striking her with words.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Reading Thumboo's "Ulysses by the Merlion"

Goh Chok Tong's Visit to FCBC

Steven Cantor's "What Remains: the Life and Work of Sally Mann"