CARING PROFESSION

1. MENTORS

To you we’re objects of fun or hate,

makers of pointless rules

who wield blades of sarcasm

at your defenceless ears,

fob you off with reasons

clean as forged notes.

You sense a hoax beneath the gloss,

an odour you can’t define, and yet

your censure scatters like spread-shot.

Should we marvel at your deference?

It’s the perfectly acceptable face

of the product we’re paid to produce.

What eludes us is indifference

hardening like bone below the surface.