i wonder how worth it it is

is it?

so much working working working

how many lives am I touching and changing

how much am i a cog caught in a machine

the cog goes in bravely and boldly claiming its place 

thinking to forge out a better space, a grander fate

but instead is smashed into subservience

by the perpetual shunting interchange 

of teeth and teeth and teeth and teeth

is this what i signed up for?

is it?
(the whole machine, each seperate part
asks this secretly of itself

and dreams of doing more . . .)

*



(it is exam week, both for our students and even my teachers who have had to undergo assessment of their English level.
ever a time for existential crisis for an educator, when the suffering souls we have been attempting to nourish and nurture are summed up and branded with some uncaring number. and that's it. til next set of exams.)