When a ‘populist’ looks more like the creep you try hard not to find yourself alone with at parties and, because few in your circle seem to be willing or able to properly stand up to them, makes you feel uneasy, even when they’re absent, because you now can’t help but question your peers’ judgements and boundaries on a whole host of other things.
Did you get the memorandum?
Truth is not a referendum
That’s reflected in a ballot,
In accordance with our palate.
An opinion doesn’t mean you’re right
And blackmail is a pretty risky
Filthy way to start a fight
And bleeding hearted populists,
So expert in promotion,
By exploiting our emotions:
They well know it.
And it shows if you try looking
At the mess they’re busy cooking,
That they haven’t got a frigging clue
Beyond what they told us to do
And if you think about it, nor may you.
For a better understanding,
Take a gander at the chaos
Of the dross with which
They play us.
Do you know which face is speaking?
Can you count the fakes and spot the spin
In all the lines they’re tweaking?
Have you looked around the back for strings?
Seen the cracks within the shite?
Checked your confirmation bias
And that lazy soundbite?
Do not pander to post-truth.
Don’t misunderstand a purpose
Where agenda can usurp us;
Have a pref’rence for some proof.
Stop pretending white is black,
Cease meandering around the facts
And open wide those glassy eyes,
Unglue the ears and hear the guile
And change the dismal diet,
For at least a little while.
Don’t mess; don’t second-guess the People: they have spoken
Don’t test their faith that says your liberal place has had its time
Do not forget your status now, is an arbitrary token
So be a good wee patriot and, quietly, get into line.
Don’t judge them by their words but by their actions
Don’t judge them by their deeds but their intent
Don’t judge them by their hungry, blind and constant angry factions
Do not mistake the rhetoric for what they really meant
Don’t caution, fret or organise to hinder their turn-back designs
Don’t let collective ignorance inhibit your respect
Do not get lost in challenging the means they justify as fine
Don’t be a party pooper; get that Kool-Aid down your neck.
Please, do not do this. Resist, resist. Resist.
Love how your cap fits;
How it sits,
Fixed on the bias.
You’ve got that I’m a quirky rebel thing going on.
It suits you. Have you tried a thinking one?
digital Jesus
guarded en suite
echoes in chambers
nailed fast to his keep
fishes for martyrdom
passionless preached
to passionate impotence
sought in the streets
Media sidestepping
sacredly walks
and double messiahs
at challenges brought
bets hubris in talks
via phone to the bloc
outsources protection
resentment and shock
sells magic and miracle
films for his flock
that grows as it spins
from the yarns he allots
marrow fat mockery
seeds in his rock as he
feeds an addiction to hope
with despair
making progress a symbol
of going nowhere
makes jam for Jerusalem
hearting all visions
reducing to black and white
relativism
the lamb in his prison
the grass at his feet
one prism of schism
is all he will treat
with a vestal revision
ensuring repeat
of a bring-your-own-bread
no JC has yet beat
still, he washes the crosses
and bears it so sweet
as he pardons the hardened
and blesses by tweet
the position his mission
momentously craves
resurrecting the Way
by immovable feast
Between want and its think,
does the intellect shrink
to reject all conditions
that challenge position
as feeling meets static
in willing fanatics,
attracted to zealotry,
simple and tacit.
Cognition disabled,
crude labels get fabled
in finely tuned riffs,
adding pith to the myths
that enable the risibly
cheap narratives
as if actual factuals
didn’t exist;
as if truth got its proof
by the gift of low wish
and the gallop of Gish
until, hook, line and sinker
the sheep become fish
Sometimes a celebrity
has talent
extending even into genius
integrity
and power unsurpassed
of beauty
grace
or class
that charismatic
je ne sais quite what
and wealth amassed
and trophies
of respect
for noble duty
or ability
of skill
or craft
but just as often
not.
juxtaposed 