Who Indeed?

Who wished for days like these?

When what we can imagine

is outstripped by reality.

Propaganda has moved

from Leni’s balletic black-and-white

to binary digital

photo-op fish drops

on the waters of the Thames.

Who grabbed the monkey’s paw,

snatched that from a djinn,

instead of a tarnished lamp?

Fake news, hake news,

fishing for competence

with an internet,

setting a pratt

to catch a mackerel

– WE ARE NOT FOOLS.

Who slipped these dense Pierrots

the ringmaster’s hat and tailcoat,

instead of locking them in the lions’ cage?

Pratfalls not politics,

let us eat custard pies,

while London burns

the heirs of Craggs the Younger

fiddle on, and not

a note is played.

Who indeed?

Footnote