Public schools rely on the unpaid overtime labour and emotional blackmail of teachers. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve challenged why we are expected to complete an arbitrary task in our own time only to be told ‘we don’t get into teaching for the money’ and ‘we go that step further because it’s what is best for the children’.

tiny lantana clots burning in jam jars light the way through the scrub / dragging a television by its rubbery grey power cord, screen down, leaf litter churns and parts, ripping the scab off top soil,