Not Poetry. Quatrain Verse in English & Swedish. Dagsverser. On the Mundane & the Arcane.
Tirelessly our hapless Tongue
so recklessly wagging
Keeps hurling havoc far flung
bragging, ragging, snagging!
Our self-righteous racing Mind
contentiously nagging
How unrestrained we’ve opined
in pursuit unflagging!
Let our Hearts be more than pumps non-excitable:
The place where we live ‘tinderly’ ignitable
+)
‘tinderly’ = interweaving ‘tinder’ with ‘tender’
His pompous, facile verbiage soars
while lying through his gleaming teeth
The figurehead lets us down while scores
his Beltway knife loosened in sheath
His faux ‘Change You Can Believe In’ brand
once seductive consumer pitch
now shown up as empty, stale & bland
still serves the powerful & rich
A President so crisp & elegant
coolly projects noble sentiments
but were his soaring speeches eloquent
helpful for those in drab tenements?
One shameless, specious scheme of bait & switch:
Saying versus doing without a glitch
+)
The Beltway = metaphor (from it’s D.C. locus) for the Power Elite
Hooked on voraciously soul sucking screens
in their eerie sheen ubiquitous
Been had by corporate marketing schemes
To celeb culture obsequious
No flirtation. Hit hard on
by forces hellacious
in consumer-tech’s brash con
its pursuits vexatious
Our culture predaceous, duplicitous
a future crashing in crassitude
in a society iniquitous
we languish feebly in lassitude
Been trading snug solidarity
for barbed & smug insularity
No one may be a belittler
of the Evils brought by Hitler!
Still what is now holding sway
in ignorance fabled
to History’s sheer dismay
others are now labeled:
Like Hitler! Not like but worse
claim elites Americanized!
Unhinged, untenable curse
lie kept alive propagandized
Scripted snappy talk ‘on the surface’
passes now for civility
like spouted in customer service
with breezy ease & certainty
While on screens placidly self absorbed
aloof from solidarity
is this where we think ourselves adored
embraced in popularity?
Shall (in a world harshly hackable)
head down texting keep us placable?
Found too light when in action weighed
too many losing hands played?
Sheltering in verbiage’s shade
nerves shot & memory frayed?
Why do suffer ourselves talking
when from vital subjects strayed
avoiding, defending, balking
by flawed perspectives waylaid?
As well wise not to opine
on someone else’s hemline
Lightning storms of ‘insight’
turned but fleeting gales
though did flash clear & bright
verbalizing fails
Pen limply sadly sags
Hand shaking, fumbling
Vocabulary gags
Crisp paper crumbling
Breakthrough just on the brink
yet another reversal!
Wasted sumptuous ink
on what turned mere rehearsal
Attempted cheaply gallant
in overreaching quest
Been courting Blessed Talent
who cold shoulders my zest
Our faces turning craggy
Synapses misfiring
Jowls & butts sinking saggy
Worn thinly brain’s wiring
Daily routines found conspiring
full of setbacks & wrinkles
New challenges cause perspiring
Long since we felt goose pimples
Civility sorely lagging
Screeched promotions propitious
abound posturing & bragging
pitches puffed-up, suspicious
No punishment but reward
when in old age we’re ignored
+)
-propitious = indicative of favor; presenting favorable circumstances
-wrinkle = a trick or dodge; crease in the skin
Overseas millions killed, maimed
Their plight we belittle
concern rarely even feigned
to change noncommittal
Worn narrative straining
nation’s honor stained
In an empire waning
integrity sprained
The President’s smooth hollow words
just shows up paralysis
whether on climate, jobs or Kurds
Bring on urinalysis:
Enough specious words
by Ivy League nerds!
+)
-president = written originally under Obama
-urinalysis = here: to identify those ‘high’ on Imperial hubris
Through fully opened sluice
words gush profusely
wave follows wave obtuse
ashore diffusely
Conveyed in smarmy smooth style
modulated, attuned
words customized to beguile
glibly, quickly communed
Words mindless of direction
locked in obduracy
empty of much reflection
pound in profligacy
If you take to heart much of what blurts
then you shall receive your just deserts!
+)
just deserts = (idiomatic) punished in a manner appropriate to one’s actions (plural only & indeed spelled ‘deserts’ while pronounced as if ‘desserts’)