In today’s poem, Billy McBone, Allan Ahlberg looks at the common situation of how our teachers often fail to discover the extraordinary fact that many of us possess wonderful minds. In the last verse, Billy’s teachers try in vain to burgle his brain. They do not realise he has his brain under lock and key, so that he can let his thoughts wander free.
Until I was an adult, my brain was under lock and key: behind the door of (undiagnosed) dyslexia. Behind this door, my imagination ran wild. I went off on adventures. I had many exciting imaginary friends. I spoke secret languages. I possessed mystical powers. I could read. None of the adults in my life suspect any of these things.
My teachers certainly did not believe I could read. Yet, I could. We belonged to three different libraries and I was a voracious reader from early childhood on.
The banality of “See Jane jump. Jump, Jane, jump.” mind-numbing content, my difficulty to read out loud or spell properly, deterred my teachers from discovering my passion for reading. How could they have known otherwise since I kept the workings of my mind under lock and key?
I love this poem and your post. How many children keep their brains under lock and key, undiscovered by their teachers? It must have been an intensely frustrating time for you, Lia.
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