My ideal job

When I grow up I want a job

That doesn’t need Arithmetic

I don’t mind working really hard

But mathematics makes me sick.

I’ve thought of jobs that I could do

Without a calculator. That rules out being a pilot

An engineer, or an educator.

There are tycoons and celebrities,

Soccer players and politicians

Making loads of money and they aren’t

All amateur mathematicians.

But then I thought that even if

You’re rich, you must be able

To add up what you earn and spend

So you need to know your tables.

The only solution I can see

Is to study to get to the top

Then pay someone to the Maths for me

While I do my dream job.

2014

Photo description: A boy with light skin and wavy brown hair with blond highlights leans back against the trunk of a fallen beech tree, with his eyes closed and his hands clasped behind his head. Sunlight dapples his grey t-shirt and black tracksuit pan