Not Poetry. Quatrain Verse in English & Swedish. Dagsverser. On the Mundane & the Arcane.
The warped leader of the band
determines who’ll drum, who’ll fiddle
From away up on his stand
marches the band in dark riddle
And should we object
with all courage & breath
little the effect
and might just cause our death
while the band still plays on
until we are all gone
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
She ate a
much too cheesy
parched pizza
made her queasy
So next she orders out Chinese
As national security risked
with swiftly patriotic ease
gets the delivery person frisked
Here’s foremost what’s at stake:
that the South China Sea
stays an American lake
Surely we all agree?
Our Empire goes to great pains
to protect the world’s sea lanes!
“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?!
In this world newfangled
the roots of inequality
run deep, twisted, tangled
enmeshed in frivolity
Kept the hope of the poor stifled
while by the powerful rifled
Q: “Why are you not putting on a mask?”
A: “I’m not culpable for your health
I’m self-reliant, so do not ask
also won’t be blamed for my wealth!”
If this is how some of us are
how did we stray so deep & far?
Q: “Still thinking we’re better than this?”
A: “We’re no effete Swedes or feeble French
so, World, come give U.S. a kiss!”
(albeit amidst conceited stench)
Thus we keep up the narrative:
Pretending to empathize
high-handed & declarative
averting our empty eyes
Masklessness leaves the Covid threat cowardly vague
while masked have we not faced that we’re all in a plague?
Right wingers march in neo-heimat
breathe out air & thought pollution
To ignore the collapsing climate
appears their preferred ‘solution’
How shall this mess, surely soon, end
as false cheers drag us in abjection?
Pernicious threats makes deadly blend
in consumer dreams, wide selection:
Wars been raging without ceasefires
as do now global floods, wildfires
Nations lacking sense to back down
prance at very edge of nuclear war
they war game ‘limited’ showdown
while ‘suitcase bombs’ may blast through backdoor
Too close to the edge we totter
in political meltdown
by the self-styled ‘genius’ plotter
revealed himself vile a clown
Economy precariously
fumbles while greed’s ruthless prophets
on Wall Street most nefariously
amass usurious profits
Enabled by our own inanity
we’re perishing amidst insanity!
+)
‘genius’ plotter = Trump