The poem is about a history teacher, who, instead of doing his job and teaching his students about the true and brutal parts of history, sugar-coats the events in a comical way.
For example, when the history teacher is asked about the Ice Age, he downplays it as simply being a “Chilly” age where “everyone had to wear sweaters.” Similarly, when asked about the brutality and oppression that the The Spanish Inquisition (1947) brought about, the teacher rephrases the topic as being a time of “nothing more than an outbreak of questions” related to Spain. His dangerous way of teaching is further demonstrated when he claims the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1945) was simply “one tiny atom” which hardly did any damage.
Despite his attempts at hiding the most terrible parts of history, his students would continue to “torment the weak and the smart.” Preferring to live in a blissful ignorance, the teacher would ignore their bullying and instead thinks about "flower beds and white picket fences.”
