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Wednesday, December 15, 2021

THE MOST POWERFUL NATION

by Imogen Arate



South Dakota teachers scramble for dollar bills in ‘demeaning’ game. Company behind the competition apologises after footage showing teachers stuffing notes into clothing to fund classrooms goes viral —The Guardian, December 13, 2021


The right to forego education is ours

the privilege to flaunt ignorance

Ogling teachers battling for dollars

we buy their dignity white-knuckling

desperately craving flexible seats


Luxuriating under quilts of greenbacks

stitching our bellyful laughs Oh look 

at that guy who's cramming his hat with

the pocket change we've let loose to

buy goodwill (tax credits) We pat our-

selves for our Xmas good deeds x’ed

out for the extreme sport of debasing 

grown adults to their hands and knees


What chumps would do for dedication

amirite

Am I right

Are We Right



Imogen Arate is an award-winning Asian-American poet and writer and the Executive Producer and Host of Poets and Muses (https://poetsandmuses.com), a weekly poetry podcast that won second place at National Federation of Press Women's 2020 Communications Contest. She has written in four languages and published in two. Her works were most recently published on The New Verse News and in Consilience and Rigorous. You can find her @PoetsandMuses on Twitter and Instagram.