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.