A Blackboard Jungle

Taking a class
is not easy to do;
there’s always a smartarse
who knows more than you.
He says that you’re past it
and lacks respect
but from such a git
what else to expect?
Of offensive taunts
he has made an art;
his arrogance he flaunts,
calls you an old fart.
To manage the rest
it is also a struggle,
it is, I don’t jest,
a blackboard jungle.
There's no discipline
in this boisterous school:
the fear is genuine
that bedlam will rule.
The pupils are restless,
aggressive, unruly;
I worry, I confess,
but not unduly.
Yet if I intervene
to break up the fights
I am told I contravene
their human rights.

© Luigi Pagano 2014