Duncan Richardson: ‘Soma’

Soma

Teaching in a state school
after ten years away
a colleague assures me
we’re part of a grand conspiracy
to make a Brave New World
and our job is to oversee
the epsilon semi-moron
part of the deal
which the government plans to achieve
without creating a human ant nest
just by cutting off dollars
to schools like ours.

Scary thought, I muse
looking around at the flaking walls
out through the windows
stained and cracked
to the oval where weeds and grasses fight
for a patch of dirt.

I hear
not far away
a Lorelei laughing.

Duncan Richardson