I wonder
As I pick up
A crumbled copy
Of the City Vision
Outside our little school
Me on my Saturday morn
Way to the local library

I wonder
And I am
In wonderment
As I have for a while
Asked learners to bring
Me a copy of the paper
(Or even a Vukani)

(This in fair exchange
For the Athlone News
Or the Tatler even
As an act of cultural
Give-and-take
And nation-building too)

I wonder
Rooibos-tea-sippingly English
As I am (like my mom)
About an article therein
Parents against sparring the whisk

A googling librarian does too
About the sparring and the whisk
And I remark that the paper
Seems very English

(Learners baulk
At reading in their first
As English is it
Or so it seems)

Never mind the furore
Around and about
Sparing the rod or not