dedicated to Bill Robinson
because he would have smiled.


When I was a kid in a country
the inspector of schools came to visit.
He called our sweet lady teacher
an excellent unit.
She didn’t smile at that..
He called the girls Mary & the boys Horace.
He said that, ‘Mary was the mother of god’
& ‘Horace was a great Latin poet
who was alive before the time of Christ.’
He wrote those names on the black board,
but when he talked to us he called us
Mary & Horrors because he said
he didn’t have time to remember our names.
He called the boys Horrors
every time with a grin
& the girls were required to curtsy
when they answered.
Our lovely teacher did not smile at that.
We all loved her very much.
I think she thought
although she didn’t dare to say so in those days
that the inspector of schools
was just a smart arse.