Tag Archives: satire

STING

STING

The Master told her
a page
is like a lover
waiting to
be touched

demanding
to be explored

at which
point she frowned
not
  fot the first time

reminding him, with
due respect
       as his student
with
    so much
   to learn

that the words on
some pages
are satirical, no
nonsense

cut
  to the bone

carry a sting
sharply pointed, venomous,
touch
   them at
your peril

not big
on that
love-touch thing

WHOLE PACKAGE

WHOLE PACKAGE

this is my
          box

my beautiful package
devised, constructed, fabricated
to enhance,
         verify, verify, rectify
this most wonderful
of weapons

so many thousands pointed
at each other (every
megaton worth
millions)

so now we have
more than enough to go round
protection, satisfaction
for all
     no one to go needy
we guarantee you your share

so just put them in this box
here according to the wording
looks so nondescript
but it’s
marvellous, glorious I swear

look how eager it is
to embrace,
     sword-swallow each
pointed warhead

turn them into
art, sheer poetry, true
beauty
    as they disappear

somewhere, anywhere, nowhere
who gives a flying f where
they went to
      disappeared to

leaving us
cold and alone no hope
of
   final winter
ultimate prophecy

not the case with
all those
      other worlds in
their parallel universes

ours
    somehow surviving
beating impossible odds
of so
    doing, of our
contriving to do so

a blip
on a switch, screen
misread, word
mistranslated

they got the required treatment
the whole package as detailed

.
    

MARIONETTE

MARIONETTE

I was
interviewed by a,
marionette

someone ardently, adroitly,
pulling, plucking the strings
behind the scenes

was from network or
other, I forget which one,
CNN, FOX, BBC
much
of a muchness
if you ask me

someone
working those strings making
them sing
though I would
struggle against
the grain to
call it lyrical

too much
noise, dissonance,
same old same

English words
on life support begging
for death, screaming to be free

I was
interviewed by a marionette
sent
to get my fist
publicly expose me

narrative
confirmed, truth out
the door

left me
to my thoughts, not
good ones either

better by far
had they sent a robot
AI intelligence never
so
well programmed

if had
left
me be
better infinitely more
than entirely

DANCING WITH THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN

DANCING WITH THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN

was heading due west
when the wheel
started to splinter, come
away in my hand

seemed like a vortex out there
demonic triangle
         portal pulling me in
ghost ships
     flying dutchmen following
me into
   that gorgeous abyss
(sphere of the zombie, land
of the dead)

where, to be fair, I would find
locale most congenial
to consort
   with Frankenstein’s creature’s
bride

the two of us in true tango,
monstering out first midnight together

drone
of supreme dissonance
about to
   switch off my brain

and yet how
we spin
    across the floor
illusion of
free movement
delusion of light speed

whilst
    eyes still locked inward
split, almost dismembered
the limbs
  scrabbling for somewhere
treading
     ice water dragged across
the spectrum, shuttled forward
back like
      a ball in ping pong between
what we are told
are complete hyperbolic poles

and now for
our videofest, hook up
for the podcast

think up
some catastrophic leveling
skimming like a
cruise missile, like
an angel of abomination
targeting
    all hearts if
we have them

as I repent all
my falsehoods, so
shamefully having lied to you
              to preserve my power
keep
my inverted commas innocence

not a deus ex machina
but brutal blade of a guillotine
falls and released
                           it is
just
the end of the poem

UP TO SCRATCH

UP TO SCRATCH

when I arrived in Hell
was stunned to find
the place empty
the only
evil soul there

so to kill a bit of eternity
the devils and I played pool
sank some beers
    discussed the state
of the world
and humanity
from a left-wing perspective

marking time for the torturers
to ready their equipment
         the inquisitors in
Hell’s hierarchy
to stoke their fabled fires

get my suffering
up to scratch

OR SO YOU BELIEVE


OR SO YOU BELIEVE

déshabillé
(or so you believe)

whereas I would say
too much is divulged
subtext is showing

paradigm so exposed
to the ruination of your reputation

need a cover up
    heads to
spin

though my own stock-
in-trade be
scarcely golden

seems like you may just
have rushed too pre-
cipitously into
some bad
media alchemy

and now
    are looking high and low
under every bombed structure
for each
   and every collateral

making such a racket to
deflect our eyes
       from the hypocrisy

the place
reduced to a desert
carnage
      beyond words

sad that what might have
served poetry
   bent out of shape to
sustain
   the war industry

defend
     death’s exceptionally

make the case for a rapture
thing so sickly sweet

will
   annihilate the need for
theology
        morality, humanity

basic kindness and love
the species professed to hold dear

NICE

NICE

better buckle up
sent down

a torrent of sarcasm
if rain can
be acid

the satire here
was molten invective

everyone expecting manna
sugar candy mountain
Wonka factory nice

but what
was happening in that dark
snuff film tunnel?

arms  better be
            sheathed because
if at
  all upraised in

diabolical salute
so vicious
    this tirade seem

bound
to get burnt off