'Teacher', a poem by Alan Maley

As a preface of the ebook: Integrating global issues in the creative English language classroom by Nik Peachey and Alan Maley.


Teacher 

What do you do?
 I’m a teacher.

What do you teach? 
People.

What do you teach them? 
English.

You mean grammar, verbs, nouns, pronunciation, conjugation, articles and particles, negatives and interrogatives …? 
That too.

What do you mean, ‘that too’? 
Well, I also try to teach them how to think, and feel – show them inspiration, aspiration, cooperation, participation, consolation, innovation,
… help them think about globalization, exploitation, confrontation, incarceration, discrimination, degradation, subjugation,
…how inequality brings poverty, how intolerance brings violence, how need is denied by greed, how –isms become prisons, how thinking and feeling can bring about healing.

Well I don’t know about that. Maybe you should stick to language, forget about anguish. You can’t change the world. 
But if I did that, I’d be a cheater, not a teacher.

Alan Maley