Mad World

I want to choose, but life’s demands refuse;
still, with intent, I spin these lines in rhyme.
The world denies, distorts what I would use,
yet I hold course in this unyielding clime.

From birth, we’re formed in crowded public schools,
taught lessons, tamed, and channeled to graduate;
they save us from becoming “useless” fools,
yet steal our time to dream and self-create.

I want the space and freedom for my path,
my way (to guard the sovereignty of my thoughts);
never again will my hard-won, applied math
enrich the suits whose souls give me no thought.



Poetry by Ngoc Nguyen The PoetBay support member heart!
Read 116 times
Written on 2026-01-20 at 09:34

Tags Society  Individual  Nonconformity 

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Marie Cadavieco The PoetBay support member heart!
I like your thoughts.

I always felt that the privileged only wanted the 'masses' to be educated sufficiently in order to be more useful to THEM.

I studied music and English and French literature, and was frequently asked by my friends' parents why I was wasting my time on subjects which would not help me get a job. I replied I was studying those subjects for the joy of doing it. Although I am now well past working age, I still find that joy. And through my time as a teacher, I hope I inspired the same joy in my young students.
2026-02-07


Ray Miller
Good luck with that, I reckon you'll need it. Maybe "steal our time"? And "souls so easily bought"?
2026-01-20