Not Poetry. Quatrain Verse in English & Swedish. Dagsverser. On the Mundane & the Arcane.
What is there really to vaunt
in a society busted?
Do we really want to flaunt
that we pretend we’ve adjusted?
Are we not more like in ’39
when the propagandized Nazi
thought ‘Im Vaterland ist alles fein!’
In denial we can not see
Now like then not merely inane
we’ve gone absolutely insane
Always blameless
seeks acclaim
He is shameless
grabbing fame
The grotesque Prez of Deception
improvises how he rules
this vain Nation of Exception
Let’s us be scammed feckless fools
Our insight fogged dimmed & courage slipped slim
he gets away with what we allow him
+)
“It is inevitable that for the final show we vomited a grotesque figure like Trump.” – Chris Hedges
Whether Life a morality farce
if you’ve been overindulging
you’ll still be flat on your sorry arse
next day burping, midriff bulging
But then desire for self-restraint
these days dishearteningly faint
A scam victim might feel relieved
if felt themself neglected
While sensing they’re being deceived
‘happy’ to be selected?
Greedily they believe
gold of 25 carat!
Easily they perceive
a carnivorous carrot!
Smiles of scammers contrived
cloying, beguiling
Once they got us connived
they turn unsmiling
When unthinkingly we parrot
we may praise that of no merit
What passes for discourse
in today’s society:
Reverberation coarse
in purloined propriety
Wear our feelings on the sleeve
we do not know subtle
not known to hold back on peeve
brusque in our rebuttal
But even when helpful & kind to confront
must still know not to take personal affront
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” – H.L. Mencken
If Mencken is right then democracy has by now been perfected in the U.S., thus:
Screen-augmented monomania
White House megalomania
Crass corporate kleptomania
Pervasive mythomania
Narratives declarative
the abnormal dressed up formal
while outright imperative:
Such is the glassy ‘new normal’
Swallowed in mindless frivolity
amidst decaying life quality
Once we begin to label
people, situations
they’ll turn simplistic fable
drawing allegations
An opinion in a blink
demands our chiding or sainting
without bothering to think
could prove indelibly tainting
‘Evil’ found irreversible
seen as beyond redemption
while ‘Good’ always traversable
fragrant without exemption
But at times don’t ‘good’ people seem buffoonish
while ‘evil’ people benignly cartoonish?
That citizens sleep on sidewalks
engenders but little compassion
while belligerent China hawks
are in exceptionalist fashion
To send our young crisply uniformed
endowed by ‘defense’ budget bloat
amidst cheers by public uninformed
to sally beyond our own moat
Billions squandered sparring in the South China Sea
by a ‘civilized’ nation … how can it still be?!
From inconvenience
(as we lack calm resilience)
do grant us lenience!
Let’s rely on own brilliance!
Amidst all impertinent tasks
we’re joined strong in resistance
to those ‘steam up my glasses’ masks
and keeping 6 ft distance!
Those demands imposed on us like blitzkrieg!
Honor our fatigue! Unfair the intrigue!
Getting to take the backseat
on a vehicle of success
ain’t lounging in a box seat
or being gifted some largesse
The Poor do slide off the pillion
when Elite does a wheelie
who ‘earn’ yet another billion
throttling entitled, freely
The Power Elite
who rarely feels contrite
expresses its conceit:
“The Poor should’ve held on tight!”
As The Poor fall off on Life’s ride
the Elite takes it in their stride
+)
-pillion = here: a small cushion-like passenger seat of a motorbike