Inner Voice Poem by gershon hepner

Essay-writing razzle-dazzle,
helping girls to storm the castle
with boys who, based on what they wrote,
attempt to cross the ivied moat
on words their teachers say won’t fail
to help them to reach Cambridge, Yale,
Oxford, Harvard, Penn or Brown,
can, when it fizzles, make them drown.

All students ought to be rambunctious,
not taught by teachers who are unctuous,
for young minds find it hard to glitter
when dulled by teachers who are bitter,
and make them learn by rote the facts
concerning rulers, battles, pacts,
when they should not be bound by rules
that make them fools while they’re in schools.

Children should be made to think—
too many facts can make them sink,
and if enthusiasm isn’t
transmitted they will be imprisoned
by thoughts that will remain chaotic
and not quixotically erotic,
since no one told them they’ve the choice
to listen to their inner voice.