Spring rain - Magtoo panorama

Rugby contract

My baby is a giant now at six feet five or six
and he has signed a contract with a rugby club. It ticks
the boxes when he wants to travel, earning money overseas.
He'll live in Scotland, train and play; for everyone agrees,
a car, a job, accommodation plus some extra cash
is just the deal to tempt young men... but is it rash?



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End of term

End of term; perhaps my daily headache won't return,
and soon insurance will be sending what I yearn
for -another blackberry - a camera-video-cum-phone
and diary as well. I dropped my BB Bold into the throne
wherein it drowned (at only 2 weeks old). Quite like the one before
(washed to death inside the pocket of my jeans). My jaw
dropped disbelievingly, both times. A foggy screen is not a happy scene.
I may be jinxed re blackberries but qwerty keyboards keep me keen.


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ParisJune09 (136)

ParisJune09 (136)
Originally uploaded by verchillee

The paintings in the Louvre amazed,
containing life within a frame.
But tourists in the Louvre seem crazed
with Mona Lisa as their aim.

ParisJune09 (27)

ParisJune09 (27)
Originally uploaded by verchillee

I went, I saw and now j'adore
Paris... except the sound of sirens.
The buildings are bewildering
in size and need admirin'.

Practice Based Attestation - feeling the lack of control

Control over my day to day life:

I'm anchoring a windmill
tilted at right angles,
I'm pegging sheets and clothing,
fighting weighty tangles
and futile bids for freedom -
moored, they flap and slap
together, held enslaved.
Haughty words can't sap
my strength while I'm in charge;
egos wear a gag.
I'm hanging out my laundry,
raising my own flag.
Agendas won't take over,
swallow, or enclose mine,
I'm in control, empowered,
standing at my clothesline.



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it's all too much- just like every other Feb

It's Wednesday night and I'm
a stuffed potato, couched
in weariness and slouched
in stress-related grime.

The TV drones and even though
I stare half-lidded, work
replays and stirs the murk
of stop-gapped overflow.


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Inquiry Learning

Love the questions in your mind.
Wallow in them, Wonder 'Why?'
Answers drift until confined.
Let the questions stretch and sigh.

Wallow in them. Wonder why
your brainstorm only helps you ask.
Let the questions stretch and sigh.
Scratch the itch beneath the mask.

Your brainstorm only helps you ask
more questions - find a place to start.
Scratch the itch beneath the mask:
gather facts. Subdue your heart.

More questions! Find a place to start,
take an open-minded view,
gather facts, subdue your heart.
Questions undermine... renew.

Take an open-minded view,
ignore habitual compromise.
Questions undermine. Renew
your purpose. Let them energise.

Ignore habitual compromise,
answers hide behind knee-jerks.
Your purpose? Let them energise;
between the facts, an answer lurks.

Answers hide behind knee-jerks.
Answers drift until confined
between the facts. An answer lurks:
love the questions in your mind.






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RIP Flossy 14 years old. Died 4 January 2009

Flossy
She was beautiful, our lab of creamy white,
her black-rimmed eyes were trusting, puzzle-bright.
She’d kangaroo through grass in an unmown field,
she’d leap for balls and into cars. I have sealed
those memories in an album behind my eyes
wrapped in re-runs: vet injects and so she dies…


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IWB Interactive Whiteboards

A parody in honour of out ICT contract which finishes at the end of this year:


What the world needs now, is boards, white boards…
Interactive boards, that there’re just too little of!

What the world needs now, is boards, white boards…
No, not just for some, but for everyone!


Lord, we will need another camera…
There are movies and photos, enough to take…
That’s how youtube and google search have
enough to watch,
enough to make,
any old head ache!


What the world needs now, is boards, white boards…
Interactive boards, that there’re just too little of!

What the world needs now, is boards, white boards…
No, not just for some, but for everyone!


Lord, we will need faster broadband…
There are game-type activities enough to teach,
to communicate and problem solve…
enough for thought,
enough for speech…
Nothing’s out of reach!


What the world needs now, is boards, white boards…
Interactive boards, that there’re just too little of!

What the world needs now, is boards, white boards…
No, not just for some, but for everyone!

What the world needs now, is boards, whiteboards…


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PBA Practise based Attestation

Older teachers, like myself, who do not have degrees
are bottle-necked in salary champagne, although we ease
the cork for those with less experience (without receiving fees).
We're treated with respect. We know we're needed. We're the keys
that others use then leave in locks. But now the powers-that-be
have listened to our union voice! We hope that they'll agree
to indicators of our skill, our knowledge... how we please,
so our school leaders can attest that we deserve more G's.



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ULearn conference Chch

My short term memory
is quite as full as it can be.
I found a mac and sat alone
upstairs encased in brick and stone.
So now to process what I've heard...
I can't say any was absurd
although a lot is repetition
but that's all good, prevents attrition.


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School Show

The audience is waiting,
the 'house' lights have been dimmed
our stage of upturned apple crates
is empty, although rimmed
with nervous actors pacing
and whispering their lines,
checking on their head-mikes
and stiffening their spines.

At last! The music heralds
the entry number dance
and rock and rollers rush on,
to swing and pose and prance.
As voices raise the rooftop
and costumes catch the light,
the audience is clapping
and so begins the night...



A hush falls as the spotlight
reveals the set and props
and then the actors move in
and pull out all the stops!
Their actions and their phrases
are overdone so well
that laughter forms the commas
throughout the tale they tell.



Then stars who sing a solo
each steal a heart or two
with melodies of magic:
ovation is their due.
Tomorrow teachers may have
to take them down a peg
but we can safely say they
know how to break a leg!






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broken collarbone

The stairs disappeared,
could I stand?
Not as bad as feared,
but work was canned.







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