Not Poetry. Quatrain Verse in English & Swedish. Dagsverser. On the Mundane & the Arcane.
The ‘peace dividend’
since fall of Mastodon
seemed a heaven-send
in 1991
But the Pentagon
please try to cotton on
can’t but carry on
needed to bear down on
Despite it’s vainly bloat
it just won’t concede
a single tank, plane, boat
or other war steed
seemed at time providential
turned out inconsequential
+)
-cotton on = understand, or begin to understand
-1991 = the collapse of the Soviet Union (here: Mastodon)
The careerist know-it-all
with elite tries to blend
with supercilious gall
determined to ascend
He knows how ingratiate
of superiors kiss their butts
flatter, his CV inflate
Of rivals kick them in their nuts
Taps into people’s envy & fear
telling them the lies they wanna hear
Process never mysterious:
Elite’s manners once imperious
power keeps them delirious
while turns deadly deleterious
Whatever injustices the People decry
the Elite shall then dismissively justify
Never mind folks in Peoria
dragging deep down in dysphoria
all they do is to cavil
while Kevin swings the gavel
carried away in euphoria
+)
-Kevin = Kevin McCarthy, new speaker of the House
They’re selling us the chimerical
offering head-in-sand snugness
no wonder I’m anti-clerical
intolerable their smugness
Trying to steer us out on their dance
they tolerate no rejection
show arrogance from first to last glance
cannot fathom our rejection
Rather than lead-by-nose acolyte
prefer to stand on my own upright
At those pedestrian crossings striped
cantankerous drivers of ‘tanks’
impatiently stopped, while sometimes griped
about walkers’ deficient thanks
Obsequious must be walkers may
it’s in U.S culture, of course
prevailing attitude holding sway:
Need respect only size & force!
Thus most backward to yield
when we are the large-wheeled
+)
‘tanks’ = here: ever larger cars, SUVs et al
While family, loving spouses
may guard facts protectively
Others like lawmaker ‘louses’
evade them electively
Aren’t we when using facts deceptively
living in our lives imperceptively?
How not to cringe
at ‘lawmakers’ fringed
How Tories binge
in fantasy hinged
In their bungling chorus
some still spound like Boris!
+)
Boris Johnson: the former UK prime minister
Most virtue-signaling flags
been hauled down came autumn
Those still up flutter like rags
bleached, frayed top & bottom
Let’s hope they still our conscience nags
those fighting flags with their hashtags
Along with other woke tag lines
the campaign ‘Black Lives Matter’
has seen taken down its yard signs
while White Lies still do smatter
Signs a snug way to get involved
while largely leave issues unsolved