out of the corporate

funded educational base

between unaccounted for minutes 

on my paycheck 

 

I sometimes get to do what 

I’m supposed to 

when not shoveling

meaningless dreck 

 

I’ve been teaching a kid to read 

using basic flash cards 

twenty minutes at a time 

it’s not really that hard 

 

it takes a lot of patience 

particularly as a kid 

if you’ve gone through years of school 

without understanding anything

 

maybe you feel the pressure 

without knowing what it is 

teachers gone crazy going 

too fast never listening

 

like a bird on a sill 

taking flight a bit late 

teaching a kid to read

I can justify my existence