The Organic Poet
When Year Eleven Have Gone @BethBrooke8
Topic - Teaching
I will put my life in order
and the life of the department:
the English stock cupboard
will be tidied to within an inch
of its life.
There will be time, perhaps,
to review the schemes of work,
to decolonise the curriculum,
exam board requirements
not withstanding.
We can find a moment
to sit in the staffroom,
reacquaint ourselves
with the tea kettle, even wash
the mugs that we have only had
time to rinse all year.
When Year Eleven have gone
the sun will shine and we will
be relaxed and happy to go out
on playground duty
and we will crawl towards
the end of term, relieved
to have got this far,
too tired to do anything
but dream.
Poet's biography
Name: Beth Brooke
Place of residence: Dorset
Your favourite quote:
So there they go, Jim running slower to stay with Will, Will running faster to stay with Jim, Jim breaking two windows in a haunted house because Will’s along, Will breaking one window instead of none, because Jim’s watching. God, how we get our fingers in each other’s clay. That’s friendship, each playing the potter to see what shape we can make of the other.” It comes from Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. Such a description of the best friendships.
Your one wish for the world: Equality
Where can we find out more about you (Website link):
Twitter - @BethBrooke8
A small bio about:
Beth is a retired teacher, born in the Middle East but now living in Dorset. She loves cats, running, and her two wonderful sons. She is a Quaker. Her debut collection will be published by Hedgehog Press next year.