Today I am going to kill something. Anything

Em 2008, em resultado de um significativo aumento de criminalidade de rua no Reino Unido, onde as agressões com armas brancas atingem números preocupantes, as autoridades educativas britânicas recomendaram a destruição de todas as antologias literárias escolares onde figurasse o poema de Carol Ann Duffy "Education For Leisure". Curioso como, apesar de tudo, ainda há quem tema o poder sugestivo de um verso.

Today I am going to kill something. Anything.

I have had enough of being ignored and today

I am going to play God. It is an ordinary day,

a sort of grey with boredom stirring in the streets.

I squash a fly against the window with my thumb.

We did that at school. Shakespeare. It was in

another language and now the fly is in another language.

I breathe out talent on the glass to write my name.

I am a genius. I could be anything at all, with half

the chance. But today I am going to change the world.

Something’s world. The cat avoids me. The cat

knows I am a genius, and has hidden itself.

I pour the goldfish down the bog. I pull the chain.
I see that it is good. The budgie is panicking.

Once a fortnight, I walk the two miles into town

for signing on. They don’t appreciate my autograph.

There is nothing left to kill. I dial the radio

and tell the man he’s talking to a superstar.

He cuts me off. I get our bread-knife and go out.

The pavements glitter suddenly. I touch your arm.