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Technology forced me to divorce a pixie and remarry a pixel.

quote by Brian Celio
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Into how many parts would you divide the child after Divorce?

You might legally divide each other from the bonds of immortal marriage; but into how many insane parts would you divide your new-born child’s eternal happiness; after your treacherously vindictive divorce?

You might legally divide each other from the bonds of immortal marriage; but into how many heartless parts would you divide your new-born child’s invincible freedom; after your venomously unbearable divorce?

You might legally divide each other from the bonds of immortal marriage; but into how many ribald parts would you divide your new-born child’s unsurpassable creativity; after your lethally unceremonious divorce?

You might legally divide each other from the bonds of immortal marriage; but into how many salacious parts would you divide your new-born child’s majestic destiny; after your lecherously ignominious divorce?

You might legally divide each other from the bonds of immortal marriage; but into how many emotionless parts would you divide your new-born child’s triumphant spirit; after your contemptuously debasing divorce?

You might legally divide each other from the bonds of immortal marriage; but into how many terrorizing parts would you divide your new-born child’s unbridled fantasies; after your abhorrently cadaverous divorce?

You might legally divide each other from the bonds of immortal marriage; but into how many excruciating parts would you divide your new-born child’s humanitarian blood; after your cold-bloodedly cannibalistic divorce?

You might legally divide each other from the bonds of immortal marriage; but into how many tyrannized parts would you divide your new-born child’s unconquerable artistry; after your violently besmirching divorce?

You might legally divide each other from the bonds of immortal marriage; but into how many reproachful parts would you divide your new-born child’s redolent playfulness; after your despicably devastating divorce?

You might legally divide each other from the bonds of immortal marriage; but into how many sacrilegious parts would you divide your new-born child’s impregnable mischief; after your sadistically bemoaning divorce?

You might legally divide each other from the bonds of immortal marriage; but into how many wanton parts would you divide your new-born child’s impeccable integrity; after your hedonistically carnivorous divorce?

You might legally divide each other from the bonds of immortal marriage; but into how many ghoulish parts would you divide your new-born child’s limitless fertility; after your mindlessly malicious divorce?

You might legally divide each other from the bonds of immortal marriage; but into how many diabolical parts would you divide your new- born child’s infallible innocence; after your unforgivably truculent divorce?

You might legally divide each other from the bonds of immortal marriage; but into how many vengeful parts would you divide your new-born child’s uninhibited cries; after your preposterously bigoted divorce?

You might legally divide each other from the bonds of immortal marriage; but into how many criminal parts would you divide your new-born child’s princely silkenness; after your tempestuously confounding divorce?

You might legally divide each other from the bonds of immortal marriage; but into how many satanic parts would you divide your new-born child’s tiny brain; after your barbarously ungainly divorce?

You might legally divide each other from the bonds of immortal marriage; but into how many sadistic parts would you divide your new-born child’s unlimited curiosity; after your egregiously dastardly divorce?

You might legally divide each other from the bonds of immortal marriage; but into how many carnivorous parts would you divide your new-born child’s parental longing; after your inanely decrepit divorce?

And you might legally divide each other from the bonds of immortal marriage; but tell me; into how many goddamned parts would you divide your new-born child’s immortal love; after your devilishly vituperative divorce?

©®copyright-2005, by nikhil parekh. all rights reserved.

poem by Nikhil Parekh
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This is what happens when I get bored..

Once, there lived two twin fairies. Even though they were sisters, they had been best friends. One day they were walking home, and they saw the hottest pixie they had ever seen. They immediately both wanted him. They started arguing over him. So loud, in fact, that the pixie asked,
“Ladies! Why are you arguing so loud? ”
They both looked at him and the blonde fairy answered with a question,
“Which one of us will you have as your girlfriend? ” The redhead fairy butted in and said,
“Yes, do tell my ignorant sister that you will have me.” The blonde fairy became enraged and slapped her sister in the face. The redheaded fairy, in response, slapped her back. Before long, they were on the ground, wrestling. The pixie had to shout in order to get them to stop.
“GIRLS! GIRLS! Let’s be mature about this.” He paused. “All fighting should be done in the ring.” Suddenly, a wise dragonfly buzzed up.
“What’s all this nonsense? ” he asked in a scraggly voice.
“I want him! ” both fairies shouted simultaneously. The pixie added with a smirk,
“Look, old uh fly; we don’t need your help. They are fighting, I am watching, and you need to go away.” The pixie fluttered his hand at the dragonfly, signaling for him to leave.
The dragonfly pondered the situation for a moment, and then he whistled. The ground started to shake and a low growl was heard. Almost as soon as it was felt, it was gone and a huge and very mean looking wolf stood before them. The dragonfly weakly pointed to the pixie. The pixie screamed in a very high-pitched tone and started running. The wolf, hungrily, chased after him. The fairies stood before the dragonfly, frozen with shock.
“Listen, young fairies, ” the dragonfly started, scratching his head, “You both have been best friends and sisters since the day you were born, yes? ” The fairies nodded.
“Well, no matter how hot a pixie is, you should never let him come between what you guys share. Don’t let anything ever ruin your friendship. It’s far more worth it to have a best friend for life than a hot pixie for a week. Okay? ” Without giving them a chance to answer, he buzzed away.
After moments of silence, the blonde fairy spoke first.
“I’m sorry.”
“Me too, ” the redheaded fairy responded.
“Let’s never fight again, promise? ” the blonde fairy asked. They both nodded and hugged for closure. They continued walking on, and lived happily ever after, as the best of friends.

[I was knocked up on so much Benadryl that night]

poem by Barbara Danielle Smith
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Messiah

Messiah!
Messiah!
Messiaaaaaaahhhh!
Messiah!
Messiaaaaaaahhhh!
Messiah!
Messiah!
Messiah!
Messiaaaaaaahhhh!
Messiah!
Messiaaaaaaahhhh!
Messiah!
Forced down and forced out
Forced down and forced out
Forced down and forced out
Forced down and forced out
Forced down and forced out
Forced down and forced out
Forced down and forced out
Forced down and forced out
Forced down and forced out and
Forced down and forced out
Forced down and forced out and
Forced down and forced out

song performed by Fear Factory
Added by Lucian Velea
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The word “Divorce” never exists

Divorce … Divorce…
Think that there is such thing never exist

-o-

Look at the girl twice before you choose
Think twice before you put the marriage ring
Once Marriage is done, it is forever.

Marriage is between two hearts,
If you marry for anything else,
There is no guarantee that it will stand

Marry for money, money can be lost
Marry for beauty, beauty can be lost
Marry for health, health can be lost
Marry for love, love can’t be lost
Look at the eyes and feel the heart
Love is there for you always

-o-

Marriage doesn’t mean, it stands for ever
Marriage is planting the love seed
Plant the love seed, deep enough in heart
Manure with smiles and pore more love

Marriage doesn’t mean, it stands for ever
Trust each other more than self
Stand for each more than self
Keep the self out and live for spouse

Marriage is place to work together
Work heard to keep it fruitful
Pray heard to keep it safe
Love heard to make it more romantic

Spouse and Kids are God’s gifts
God entrusted us to take care of them,
The way he is taking care of us.

-o-
Divorce is the evil
It killed the souls and hearts
Divorce … Divorce …
Don’t think of it.
There is nobody who gained out of it

Divorce … Divorce…
Think that there is such thing never exist

[...] Read more

poem by Bhavani Polimetla
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Pixie Caramel Skies

I love Pixie Caramel, because
it’s the chewiest, grooviest, sweet
on the street; I crave to eat.
Here’s the habit; reach out; grab it.

Pixie Caramel, is the greatest,
you’ll love the original and the latest.
Try it now, do yourself a favour,
Pixie Caramel, the taste to savour.

Pixie Caramel, the one to try,
run, run; go out and buy.
You must have it! Chew it! Or die!
Happiness enfolds - Pixie Caramel Skies.

poem by Terence George Craddock
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In Days to Come

IN DAYS TO COME

In days to come when, dumb, I’ll strum no more
rhymed witness to timed world where butterflies
still dance rare marbled patterns through fair skies -
when I’ll have sunk to rest unblessed before
enchantment fades – who’ll feel one penny poor?
Most, wor[l]dy-wise, ignore one poor demise,
for life continues as before - here lies
our irony, reflections poet pours
in [l]ink think themes on pixel pages’ scores
fade with ambitions one can’t realize,
when hopes unmet forget joy’s first surprise.
Self is both root and cause of fatal flaws.

My memory, wax candle w[e]aned from flame,
may shadow search vain answers to Life’s game.

20 May 2005 revised 16 November 2006 and 25 March 2009
robi03_1257_robi03_0000 SXX_DIZ

for previous versions see below variant of Unjaded Sparkle 6 July 1991

In Days to Come

In days to come when, dumb, I’ll bear no more
to Time rhymed witness, world where butterflies
still dance rare marbled patterns through fair skies -
when I’ll have sunk to rest twice blessed before
enchantment fades – who’ll feel one penny poor?
Most, wor[l]dy-wise, ignore one poor demise,
for life continues as before - here lies
our irony, reflections one would pour
in [l]ink think themes on pixel pages’ score
fade with ambitions one can’t realize,
when hopes unmet forget joy’s first surprise.
Within oneself is found the fatal flaw.

My memory - wax candle w[e]aned from flame,
while others, vain, search answers to Life’s game.

20 May 2005 and 16 November 2006 revised 23 November 2008
- for previous versions see below

In Days to Come

[...] Read more

poem by Jonathan Robin
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Info Superhighway

Key:-
A - anita
R - ray
A: technology
R: virtual society
Info superhighway interaction
A: into the future, into the furture
Technology
A: see the world progressing all around us, its a virtual society
Info superhighway interaction, computer pal or enemy
So communicate with me
Wont you interact with me?
R: technicians, technique, technology
Its the most important thing in the industry
Its going further nowadays, cause they wanna get paid
Every day new discovery and plans to be made
Now get connected like an electric wire
Look out for the shock, look out for the fire
Just imagine how it would be
Without the thing they call technology.
A: interactive main
Interactive main
Info superhighway
A: see the world progressing all around us, its a virtual society
Info superhighway interaction, computer pal or enemy
So communicate with me
Wont you interact with me?
R: technicians, technique, technology
It runs the world and society
Digital revolution, technical solutions
For some it only brings more and more confusion
Do we still talk about civilization
cause we gotta look out for the computer invasion
Radio, telephone, or tv..
Would it be there without technology?
A: into the future
Into the future
R: energy from the inner mind
Technology
A: so communicate with me
Want you interact with me
A: see the world progressing all around us, its a virtual society
Info superhighway interaction, computer pal or enemy
So communicate with me
Wont you interact with me?
R: info superhighway interaction
A: technology
Technology
Technology

song performed by 2 Unlimited
Added by Lucian Velea
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Trixie The Pixie!

Trixie the Pixie was crying,
She'd simply had enough!
As her tiny heart was dying
Each time she fell in love!

She picked the wrong dude every time,
She hadn't got a clue!
There was no reason and no rhyme
For stupid things dudes do!

She swore she'd never fall again!
She hated dudes to bits!
She hated Bill! She hated Ben!
In fact, she called them TWITS!

But then she found her Romeo
Who swept her off her feet!
She followed him each place he'd go,
Then casually meet!

Yes, to her, this dude was better
Than all she'd known before...
So she sent this dude a letter,
So that he'd know the score...

She wrote he was the one for her,
She had no doubts in mind,
She hoped for something to occur,
If he could be so kind...

He held her letter in his hand,
Then held it to his heart...
Although this wasn't what he'd planned,
He'd loved her from the start!

He knew she'd got a heart of gold,
A treasure beyond worth,
Girl Pixie hearts are warm not cold,
The kindest on this Earth...

In Pixie Town, he bought a ring!
He practiced on one knee...
Proposed that night, felt like a king
And married sweet Trixie!

Twelve years have flown, yet love remains!
They've got ten Pixie boys!
When Christmas comes, not one complains!
Man, you should see their toys!

[...] Read more

poem by Denis Martindale
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Playing With Technology

What happens when a child plays with a razor?
What happens when a child plays with fire?
What happens when a child drives a car?

Man in his pursuit of technology is in the same pose
In his hand is a tool of technology, powerful and dangerous
But he’s acting like a child and doesn’t know its purpose.

Man’s still a child, no sense of purpose, no vision of the future
For a child the razor, the fire and the car are just for pleasure
It is obvious, for this same reason man pursues technology.

Man’s still a child, so selfish, self-centered and irresponsible
Doesn’t care about the world, his possessions is all that matters
But his mind, his most precious one, is neglected and in tatters

We’re like a child mesmerized by technology, by its power
Creating for us so much stuff, we feel much richer
But we’ve forgotten our world is delicate, our life fragile.

We’re like a child mesmerized by technology, so tempting
So much pleasure, so much convenience to us it’s giving
But we’ve forgotten our goal in this hostile universe is survival.

We’re like a child mesmerized by technology, so exciting
Faster and faster now we are driving it, not hesitating
It’s just a matter of time, it will crash! It will crash!

Now, we can see the destruction on the horizon looming
It’s been scientifically determined our planet is warming
Because, technology, that’s meant to save us, we abused it!

poem by Leonard Sims
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Deepness In The Throat

Like a deepness in your throat
I'm here to make you choke.
A miss step to the abiding course
Scream of the divorce of those of fantasy and the real.
No concept is ever a far cry from the from the truth.
Of the abused
Mentally used
Confused
Bitter
Sour
Anger
Ha te
In everything we relate
So do not agitate

Look at yourself making so many miscalculations
In your proclamations
As am I
We speak, we learn
We follow through
Like an oppression upon the chest
Looky their its sitting on that shelf
Just reach for it.

Like a deepness in your throat
I'm here to make you choke.
A miss step to the abiding course
Scream of the divorce of those of fantasy and the real.
No concept is ever a far cry from the from the truth.
Of the abused
Mentally used
Confused
Bitter
Sour
Anger
Ha te
In everything we relate
So do not agitate

Bang bang the drugs take effect
Are you hallucinating yet.
Don't fret
You'll be soon enough
Think you got it rough
Come on now be tough
Stand up for yourself
Emotional distrust

Like a deepness in your throat
I'm here to make you choke.

[...] Read more

poem by Ace Of Black Hearts
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Single By Choice

Single by choice
Never marry, never ever divorce
Listen to the solitary voice
Tell you Im single by choice
Single by choice
Never marry, never ever divorce
Listen to the solitary voice
Tell you Im single by choice
I know what youre thinking
She cant be complete
til the right kind of man
Come sweep her off her feet
Well Ive been there before
Times four or times five
With the right kind of man
Barely made it out alive
Single by choice
Never marry, never ever divorce
Listen to the solitary voice
Tell you Im single by choice
Alone but not lonely
Never marry, never ever divorce
Listen to the solitary voice
Tell you Im single by choice
I know what youre thinking
She cant be complete
til the right kind of man
Come sweep her off her feet
Well Ive been there before
Times four or times five
With the right kind of man
Got love in my day
And I dont waste one moment
Wishing it awya
Single by choice, single by choice
Single by choice, single by choice
Single by choice
Never marry, never ever divorce
Listen to the solitary voice
Tell you Im single by choice
Single by choice, single by choice
Single by choice, single by choice

song performed by Bangles
Added by Lucian Velea
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Mexican Divorce

(burt bacharach/bob hilliard)
Its a sin for you to get a mexican divorce
Down below el paso lies juarez
Mexico is different, like a travel folder says
Cross the rio grande and you will find
An old adobe house
Where you leave your past behind
One day married, next day free
Broken hearts for you and me
Takes no time, for you to get
A mexican divorce
As I came into this lonely house last night
I looked at all my windows but I couldnt find one light
I found you on that road to mexico
And now, my love, I beg
Please, oh, please, dont go
One day married, next day free
Broken hearts for you and me
Its a sin for you to get a mexican divorce
Finding love takes so long
Walking out must be wrong
Its a sin for you to get a mexican divorce
One day married, next day free
Broken hearts for you and me
Its a sin for you to get a mexican divorce

song performed by Ry Cooder
Added by Lucian Velea
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The Impact Of Poverty On Education

THE IMPACT OF POVERTY ON EDUCATION.

INTRODUCTION

There are so many different tools that have been thought relevant in people’s developmental projects both at individual and societal levels. Education is one of such practical tools. Importantly to note, there are also various meanings that denote the broad term ‘education’. In this essay, however, we are mainly interested in defining formal education since our discussion will dwell much on it. According to Nwomonoh (1998) , formal education is the process of gaining knowledge, attitudes, information and skills during the course of life especially at school.

Though education is said to be so instrumental in human development but also in the revamping of world economies, it is very unfortunate that education systems, world wide, are being held to ransom all because of poverty at both governmental and household levels. According to Thibault (2009) , poverty means the shortage of common things such as food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, all of which determine our quality of life. It may also include lack of access to opportunities like education and employment which aid the escape of poverty.

Problems in our society are interconnected in one way or the other, just like poverty and personal family problems affect a student’s capability to learn. Improving education entails improving the living conditions of students. Having in mind that education is basically responsible for the development of many countries including Malawi, as the back ground suggests, we cannot afford to bypass such a vital element without a mention. Considering also the fact that poverty is one of the forces that come in the way; blocking the success of education, we feel it rational to look at how the two realities, education and poverty, affect each other both positively and negatively. That is also why we are convinced that this topic is worth studying. Our awareness of this source, poverty, and its impact on education will enable us devise some proper measures of intervention with the hope of minimizing the negative impact of poverty on education. This point, in short, explains the purpose of our investigation and why we are so passionate in getting into this research. During the whole discussion we are being guided by two questions thus, ‘does poverty really affect education? And if it does, what points do we have on the positive and negative impacts of poverty on education? ’

METHODOLOGY

The study was basically qualitative in approach because of the nature of the issue that was being addressed. This was the case because the issue of how poverty affects education, both positively and negatively is particularly very difficult to predict the conclusions without penetrating into the core of the issue. For instance, one may unreasonably rush into concluding that poverty affects education negatively only and we cannot even dare to speak of poverty affecting education positively. The study was conducted in three schools namely; Mulunguzi, Masongola and Chirunga Private Secondary schools in Zomba district between 24th April and 3rd May. In this research we used both government and private funded schools to have a more balanced result on how poverty affects formal education in these different institutions. The information required for the study was collected through group interviews of form three students and individual interviews with teachers using semi-structured interview schedules. We opted to use these interviews in the first place because we felt books are more theoretical whereas a field research is practical and it involves real life experiences. Nevertheless, we still used desk research as a supplementary source of information and for clarity in some areas.

RESULTS

Positive impacts of poverty on education
To begin with, poverty encourages one to get educated and of course work hard in class. This is because the problems faced due to poverty are very serious and therefore students who are from poverty stricken families strive to end the problems and one of the best solutions is through education. That is to say, if a person, for instance, due to poverty, is taking just a meal in a day instead of three meals, and again if he/she is sometimes sleeping on an empty stomach, he/she will resort to education bearing in mind that if he/she gets educated they will secure formal employment and eventually be able to make ends meet for themselves as well as fending for their families.

Not only does poverty encourage one to get educated, but also it helped in the introduction of free primary education. In Malawi, for instance, when Bakili Muluzi became president, he introduced free primary education and he had eliminated the requirements for school uniform forthwith (Kadzamira & Rose,2001) . This had increased the access to education dramatically as those pupils who were coming from less privileged families were also given access to this free primary education. It should also be noted that the free primary education system was not only implemented to fulfill an electoral pledge but also bearing in mind that some families were not able to send their children to school due to poverty. Free primary education was there to deal with illiteracy by reducing families’ direct costs of education. Again due to the influx in the number of pupils in primary schools; there was a lack of teachers. Sonani (2002) , testifies that the Ministry of Education re-employed all retired teachers below the age of 65. This also meant that the once retired teachers got back to their source of income which helped them support their families as well as hauling the economy of the country. The implementation of free primary education system in Malawi forced the government to provide infrastructures so as to accommodate the large number of pupils in these schools. Simply put, poverty had led to the introduction of free primary education which means that more children are going to school, and again more teachers are being trained and getting employed and finally the construction of school blocks culminating into infrastructural development, all these branching from poverty.

We may also look at poverty from a positive angle bearing in mind that when a country is poor more funds and donations come into it. These funds and donations are also given to the education sector to build new infrastructures and in the maintenance of already existing ones in the sector. These privileged countries also provide learning materials to schools that are poor as a result students in these less privileged schools perform well in accordance with the amount and quality of the learning materials that they have been provided with. For instance, a United States based non governmental organization known as “Water for People” handed over 44 water toilets they built to Chimwankhunda primary school. The school toilet facilities had been vandalized 11 years ago but because of poverty the school could not renovate them (Gausi,2007) .

In addition, these funds and donations help more people to get educated. This is so because people can use funds as school fees, pocket money and buy stationery. The donations may include library books, chairs and writing materials. These can make a conducive environment for one to learn since there will be enough facilities at the school. For instance, with funding from the “United States Agency for International Development” (USAID) ,3,300 needy Malawian primary school girls are being funded. They are being provided with food, clothing, school supplies and hygienic products like soap and body lotion (Muhaliwa,2005) . Likewise,500 pupils at Katoto primary school in Mzuzu no longer sit on the floors during lessons courtesy of Southern Bottlers Limited and Lions Club of Limbe. Before these funds and donations, pupils used to sit on the floor due to scarcity of desks. These donations improved the pupils’ school attendance in such a way that pupils have started going to school regularly.

In the same line, a needy student can be given a scholarship to go further with his/her education. In this case the scholarship is given to the person just because he/she cannot manage to pay school fees on her own. This in turn benefits the needy person and the community at large. In this situation poverty has assisted in the development of education in an area by beckoning funds and donations from rich countries and organisations.

Further more; in most cases poverty facilitates one’s ambitions to attain formal education. It becomes easier for a poor child to put much of his concentration on education as compared to a rich child. This is because a poverty stricken student will have less destructive materials for entertainment. He/she will also have less or no money to indulge him/herself in activities that require spending a lot of money for instance, drinking beer. Sometimes even if the child can find money he/she can buy basic needs and not just spending it anyhow. Contrast to this a rich child may obtain things like ipods, mp3s, games for entertainment. These things in most cases destruct the concentration of students in their studies. As a result, one’s class performance is negatively affected since most of his/her time is being spent on entertainment.

Negative impacts of poverty on education

Just as a coin has got two sides, a head and a tail, poverty also, apart from having positive impacts on education, it does have negative impacts on the same. We have talked much about the positive face of poverty on education. We shall surely do ourselves injustice if we do not look at the negative part. In spite of the fact that poverty has an impact on education that is worth complimenting, we cannot afford in this discussion to overlook the point that so many students have been forced to leave the corridors of learning institutions due to the same poverty. One of the reasons that force some students leave the learning institutions prematurely is pregnancy, which in most cases, come because of poverty. It is almost common knowledge that a good number of students who come from poor families wish they could be sailing in the same boat with those who come from well to do families as far as luxurious life is concerned. The poor students constantly feel that there is something missing at the core psychologically. With this feeling in their minds, they tend to regard themselves as incomplete and not accepted socially. Consequently, they envy the rich students and squarely want to posses the things that are associated with the rich students. Very unfortunate that the poor students’ parents cannot afford to fulfill their children’s desires like what the rich parents would provide. Because the pull towards recognition is too strong for the poor students to resist, they end up in indulging themselves into prostitution in their search for money. Pity indeed that instead of recreating, as anticipated, their promiscuous behavior sees most of them getting pregnant and for some very unfortunate ones get even HIV and other STIs. From this discussion, commonsense convinces us that this school dropp out due to pregnancy is one of the negative impacts of poverty on education.

Adding more flesh to this discussion, we can also appreciate that hunger has been so instrumental in bringing down the standards of education world wide, in general, and Malawi, in particular. Frankly speaking, there are very few students if not none, who concentrate on their studies on empty stomachs. Food is one of the basic needs that every person is obliged to have if he/she is to survive. It is not surprising, therefore, to see some students performing miserably in class simply because they have not taken enough food or they have taken none altogether. The question of hunger finds its way into the education system because the government has failed to provide adequate food in most of its boarding schools. This is poverty at governmental level. There are also some students who are not boarders but still endure the hostile reality of hunger right in their homes. This is due to poverty at household level. It is sad that poverty, both at governmental and household level, has helped in engineering the deteriorating of education standards in Malawi.

Bearing in mind that it is only the eagle that can tell us the real whisper of a cloud, we visited Masongola Secondary school with the hope of getting first hand information from the students and their teachers since they are the ones who mostly benefit or get destructed by poverty. The Masongola secondary school students and their teacher, Mr. Enock Abraham, testified to us during an interview that government’s inability to provide extra food, apart from the usual beans that the institution offers, has seen many students developing ulcers. It would sound bizarre to reason that one can attend classes whilst he/she is on a hospital bed battling with ulcers. The Masongola students further testified that most poor students who have ulcers just bow down out of the race of learning because they cannot afford to buy extra food whenever the institution is serving the students beans.

This pitiful development goes beyond the boundaries of Masongola secondary school. Mulunguzi secondary school as Mr……the head teacher at the institution testifies, has not been spared from the scourge of school dropp outs simply because the school has not been able to provide extra or adequate food to students who cannot take what their friends take on health grounds. Needless to say this leaves the education standards in Malawi vacillating. It is a pity that though we have wrestled with this question of poverty a dozen times, we have not been successful in the battle. At one point in time, the government attempted to minimize the chances of school dropout in primary schools through its provision of porridge to pupils in the junior section. This attempt was in itself a good gesture but the government has failed to implement the initiative further in other schools that up to now have not benefited from the program.

It may not sound an exaggeration if we may say poverty has also forced a good number of students to give up their hopes of getting educated simply because they find it so difficult traveling to and from their respective schools. Lack of transport means, in short, has pushed them well towards the blink of despair as far as attaining formal education is concerned. This point speaks for itself how poverty can sometimes work on the education’s disadvantage.

As we go further with this discussion, we also appreciate the fact that the problem that mostly hinders a student’s success is inadequate resources that include; few teachers and learning materials. It must be highlighted that these problems are not only in developing countries but they may also find their way in reasonably developed countries like South Africa. In a developing country like Malawi, the education system encounters these problems because of the government’s failure to look into problems of infrastructure, capacity and availability of teaching and learning materials (Nkawike,2005) . The Muluzi government did a little if any; in as far as infrastructure is concerned. Lack of school blocks facilitated by a large number of pupils due to the introduction of the free primary education in 1994, forced pupils to have lessons under trees. In 2003, for example, lack of school blocks resulted in a tragedy at Nkomachi in Lilongwe when a tree fell onto an outdoor class, resulting in injury and deaths of pupils (Mvula & Chanika,2004) . This problem of learning materials continues till date, in all levels of the education system. According to Abraham (2009) , the school has always had shortage of learning blocks to an extent that the Physical Science and Biology laboratories are used as classrooms. There is also great shortage of books in all departments, and some departments like the technical department needs new equipment and current books which are very expensive. With this unfortunate situation we cannot anticipate good performance from Masongola secondary school.

In order to deal with these issues, the Muluzi government thought it wise to disregard the provision of learning materials in schools. Instead the Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) pass mark was reduced to ensure the success of students in their examinations. Even the director of Basic Education, Nelson Kaperemera admitted that funds intended for learning materials were servicing the debts of government at the expense of improving quality education. Instead of reducing the pass mark, the government and other stake holders should strive to improve quality of education, improve teacher salaries, and provide adequate materials and train teachers properly (Malawi News,2006) .

In developing countries like Malawi, the schools are understaffed (teaching personnel) and they tend to be handling a large number of students for long hours. Furthermore, the teachers are subjected to meager salaries, which are even made late. The government does not seem to have the welfare of teachers at heart, for instance the education Manager for Phalombe, Enoch Ali says the district is facing a dire shortage of teachers, a situation that is contributing to low education standards. The teacher pupil ratio in Phalombe is 1: 120, whilst the recommended ratio is 1: 60 (The Nation,2006) . Due to low pay teachers resort to organizing part time classes, which demand an extra amount of money on top of the normal fees. These changes clearly affect those students who come from very poor families, as they do not receive adequate studies because of lack of money.
This does not only occur in secondary schools, but it also happens in universities. As the academic staff of the Universities go on strike because of the government’s reluctance to increase their salaries. One considers how this is supposed to retain staff in the University. As a result lecturers spend more time doing consultancies; instead of preparing lectures and doing University mandated research. If we are serious about fighting poverty, formal education is the hub of ideas to fight these problems by improving its standards (Kapasula,2008) .
Child labour is one of the major problems that contribute to school dropp out. The majority of child labour victims are children who are living in poverty. This is so because they lack basic needs, for this reason they are forced even against their will to do any kind of work in order to gain financial wealth. This, therefore, affects school attendance. Evidence of school dropp out due to child labour is found in central region where most children are being employed in estates. This region has high tobacco production. Since this crop demands a lot of work, children are at high demand because they do not claim high wages compared to adults. Research, therefore, showed that the percentage of children attending schools is lower compared to that of northern and southern region (Nyirongo,2004) . We have the case of two brothers aged between 12 and 15 who were forced to work at a tobacco farm at Mpherembe in Kasungu district, where they were receiving 150 kwacha a day due to poverty (Namangale,2005) . We can see that child labour has a great impact on education because through it, a lot of children are being deprived of their right to education as they spend most of their time working.

In addition to that, Chirwa (2003) found out that child labour is also taking place in people’s houses. In this case children are forced to dropp out of school either by parents or on their own, to work in neighbouring homes. Here one of the victims is a 12 year old girl Elizabeth Chalimba, who left school when she was in standard six to work as a nanny in order to support her siblings. Children from low income families are at risk because though school is their only hope for a better future, they dropp out because their parents are failing to provide them with basic needs. Apart from child labour, psychological problems due to poverty is also another cause of school dropp outs. Research shows that the impact of poverty is greater on children as opposed to adults. Firstly, the problem arises due to the environment in which these children are raised. These environments being impoverished, they are intellectually unstimulating, and lack of stimulation results in impaired intellectual development of a child. This in turn contributes to failure in class which can later on lead to school dropp out.

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poem by Innocent Masina Nkhonyo
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Pixel Paradox

Patterns form as piece by jigsaw piece
Inventions flash across flat mobile screen,
Xpress intrinsic profile, sensed not seen, -
Expressing change now ready for release.
LEDs [b]link then sink as stimulations cease.
Pregnant shadows presage red, blue, green,
As inset windows somewhere in between
Real and unreal, retain some skein, increase
Add on, plug in, cross-pollinate, police
Developments online. What may this mean?
One tremor more, core shakes - tsunami scene.
Xtensive, change seethes, straining surface peace,
assumptions questions, old world sweeps away.
Another rises, chained or free? Who’ll say?

(27 August 1999 revised 22 July 2007 and 30 January 2010)

for initial version see below

Pixel Paradox

Patterns form as piece by jigsaw piece
Inventions flash across a fuzzy screen,
Xtract a nano profil, sensed not seen, -
Endless change is ready for release.
Lights [b]link then sink as surges soon decrease.
Pregnant shadows presage red, blue, green,
As inset windows somewhere in between
R eal, unreal, retain some skein, increase
Add on, plug in, cross-pollinate, police
Developments online. What does this mean?
One tremor more, core shakes, - tsunami scene.
Xcessive change stored 'neath screen's surface fleece
will sweep away an old society,
assumptions challenging, - to chain or free?

(27 August 1999/Acrostic Sonnet PIXEL PARADOX Poem)

poem by Jonathan Robin
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Technology Within Humanity

Technology realized
is the conceptualization
of nature harnessed.

Technology flourishes
expands upon laws
of nature studied
comprehended utilized.

Technology interacts
threatens the psyche
of humankind with
Jackal and Hyde
mirror images

creation destruction
potentialities
attesting to divinity
bestiality of nature
incorporated within.

Technology nature
are aspects affirming
environmental
comprehension
control divorce.

An absence
of nature
impoverishes
humanity
which imitates

creation
comprehended
striving
to evolve
reconcile back

to a godhead
where deep
division
dominating
beastly deeds

emotions
can be slain
forever
as passions

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poem by Terence George Craddock
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VIII. Dominus Hyacinthus de Archangelis, Pauperum Procurator

Ah, my Giacinto, he's no ruddy rogue,
Is not Cinone? What, to-day we're eight?
Seven and one's eight, I hope, old curly-pate!
—Branches me out his verb-tree on the slate,
Amo-as-avi-atum-are-ans,
Up to -aturus, person, tense, and mood,
Quies me cum subjunctivo (I could cry)
And chews Corderius with his morning crust!
Look eight years onward, and he's perched, he's perched
Dapper and deft on stool beside this chair,
Cinozzo, Cinoncello, who but he?
—Trying his milk-teeth on some crusty case
Like this, papa shall triturate full soon
To smooth Papinianian pulp!

It trots
Already through my head, though noon be now,
Does supper-time and what belongs to eve.
Dispose, O Don, o' the day, first work then play!
—The proverb bids. And "then" means, won't we hold
Our little yearly lovesome frolic feast,
Cinuolo's birth-night, Cinicello's own,
That makes gruff January grin perforce!
For too contagious grows the mirth, the warmth
Escaping from so many hearts at once—
When the good wife, buxom and bonny yet,
Jokes the hale grandsire,—such are just the sort
To go off suddenly,—he who hides the key
O' the box beneath his pillow every night,—
Which box may hold a parchment (someone thinks)
Will show a scribbled something like a name
"Cinino, Ciniccino," near the end,
"To whom I give and I bequeath my lands,
"Estates, tenements, hereditaments,
"When I decease as honest grandsire ought."
Wherefore—yet this one time again perhaps—
Shan't my Orvieto fuddle his old nose!
Then, uncles, one or the other, well i' the world,
May—drop in, merely?—trudge through rain and wind,
Rather! The smell-feasts rouse them at the hint
There's cookery in a certain dwelling-place!
Gossips, too, each with keepsake in his poke,
Will pick the way, thrid lane by lantern-light,
And so find door, put galligaskin off
At entry of a decent domicile
Cornered in snug Condotti,—all for love,
All to crush cup with Cinucciatolo!

Well,
Let others climb the heights o' the court, the camp!

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poem by Robert Browning from The Ring and the Book
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Hilla Marriage

In Islam
Divorce is the worst thing
Amongst the halal things.

God has made the custom
Of hilla marriage
With a view to
Discourage divorce.

In my view
If a man divorces his wife
Then wants to marry her again
He should marry another woman
Followed by a divorce
To marry his ex-wife

On the other hand
If a woman divorces her husband
Then wants to marry him again
She should marry another guy
Followed by a divorce
To marry her ex-husband

poem by Asif Andalib
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The Reason For Divorce

The reason for divorce you've guessed right marriage without marriage there would not be divorce
With birds and animals things are so much different they make love and leave Nature take it's course
They do not have acrimonious breakups when their relationships end they merely go their way
Though some species are known to be faithful and until one die together they do stay.

Some claim to know that us humans are polygamous if this be so the truth we ought to face
That we live an un-natural existence that marriage between man and woman never should take place
We'll look at sheep since sheep are polygamous the ram and ewe they make love for a day
Tomorrow he has another to make love to sheep do live true to Nature one might say.

What God has put together let no man pull asunder whoever first said that told a big lie
For ninety per cent of marriages as we know are long over before the husband or the wife does die
Of undying love you won't find many cases and this thing called love is an over-rated thing
Though the romance writers make their fortunes from it and of love the pop singer paid to sing.

The reason for divorce you've guessed right marriage though of undying love romantics love to read
But facts don't lie and the facts always tell us that more often than not marriage to divorce lead
Married till death do you part coined by some religious zealot any untruer words perhaps have not been said
And though a few marriages known to last the distance before old age most marriages long dead.

poem by Francis Duggan
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Bible in Poetry: 1 Corinthians 7

Marriage:

1’Tis good for man, not to marry.
2 With so much immorality,
Each man should have his own, one wife,
And each woman, own, one husband.
3 The husband should fulfill to wife,
His marital duty always;
And likewise, wife to her husband.
4 Wife's body doesn’t belong to her
Alone, but to her husband too.
In the same way, husband's body
Does not belong to him alone
But also to his wife as well.
5 Do not deprive each other then,
Except by mutual consent and
For just sometime, so that you may
Devote yourselves to some prayer.
Then come again together for
As Satan will not tempt you for
Your lack of self-control in life.
6 I say this as a concession,
And this is not a command then.
7 I wish all men were as I am.
Each man has his own gift from God;
One has this gift, another, that.
8 Now to unmarried and widows:
’Tis good to stay unmarried too.
9 If they can’t control themselves then,
’Tis better they should get married
Than, burn with passion in your life.
10 Lord’s command to the married ones:
A wife must not separate from husband.
11 But if she does, she must stay unmarried,
Or else be reconciled to her husband.
A husband mustn’t divorce his wife.

12 To rest I say (I, not the Lord) :

If any brother has a wife,
Who isn’t a believer but then,
She is willing to live with him,
He must not divorce her, as yet.
13 And if a woman has husband,
Who isn’t a believer as yet,
But is willing to live with her,
She must not divorce him as well.
14 For the unbelieving husband
Has been sanctified through his wife,
And the unbelieving wife too,

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poem by John Celes
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Bwtween two

forced to choose between the two,
forced to choose between honesty and dispair,
forced to choose between beauty and destruction,
forced to choose between life and death,
forced to choose between 3 years and 5 years,
forced to choose between who i am friends with,
and still with the choice of both i loose one.

poem by Matthew Boisjolie
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