An Idyllic Lifestyle No School No Set Lessons Poem by Terence George Craddock

two wild unruled boys running wild
still under 10 disorderly and disruptive
not amenable to discipline or control

it is a dream time Huckleberry Finn time
an idyllic lifestyle no school no set lessons
until pay piper time no education menial jobs

today my daughters my girls are back at school
homework tonight father teaching basics catch up
but C&Z play team their boys do not go to school

insane? ? ? ?

if teaching
them nothing
at home

rewind time turn back into memories

two wild unruly boys running wild
animal time at no education art hotel
not today not success rocket scientists

running in memories
running towards menial futures
running in uncertainties
running in struggle low paid jobs

contrast two girls
bite the bit at school focused
climbed scholastic ladder lessons
scholarships at university waiting

but this is not tragedy a sad story a bad story
it is the land of the leaper leech labour government
a government that promised to fairytale build

houses a few hundred thousand houses
because they claimed their was a housing crisis
under John Key National only 60% of kiwis

lucky proud owned their own houses
Labour had big plans pie in sky dreams
to build houses made of ticky tacky

after a few years struggling with a tortoise takeoff
Labour built a few thousand promised houses
but not what the customer wanted ugly overpriced

some finally sold underpriced with taxpayer subsidies
under bubble head Ardern Labour less than 50% of kiwis
own their own houses a Labour created housing crisis?

enter 50,000 teachers
on strike over wages
just graduated teachers

claiming after completing
their entire teaching total workload
they are paid minimum wages

enter our hero Huckleberry Finn boys
who know how to swing a paint brush
can earn $5 an hour above minimum wages

stepping off the riverboat can drive trucks buses
huge drivers' shortage pays well above minimum wages
trades people tradies prosper party paid quality wages

but what of our two girls bite the bit at school focused
climbed scholastic ladder lessons oldest at university received
three scholarships one paying $30,000 three years fees paid

youngest still at high school acing classes receiving excellences
who prospers in changing economics life salary lessons
roll dice boys girls verdict is rolling always pending


Terence George Craddock (Afterglows Echoes Of Starlight)
Copyright © Terence George Craddock