Dear world, I want to teach

Dear world,
I am tired.
I am tired of having to prove
that I am what I say I am.
I am tired of having to show
that I can do what I know I can do.
I am tired of jumping through stupid hoops
and climbing rickety ladders
without purpose.
This isn't my first rodeo,
or clown show, or circus.
I resent being put on display for evaluation
and I resent being compared to a list
that a group of collegial people festooned with degrees
designed for the sole purpose
to make this difficult.

I want to teach.
Is it not enough that I offer myself up
for the scrutiny of students?
Is it not enough that I go to classes
and do assignments that don't seem
to have much use for me in the end?
Please let me be.
Please let me do.
For two seconds of a miserable day,
I wish I could call myself a teacher
without needing that piece of paper
that tells me I can call myself thus.