A VICIOUS FARCE
I did not celebrate the crowning of King Charles,
nor did I help out at ‘The Big Help Out’ –
a public holiday designated
by the seventy four year old
billionaire as an opportunity
for his subjects to work for nothing,
undertaking public service jobs
someone used to be employed to do.
For only two times in my life was I
in step. Most of the residents of this realm
neither celebrated nor helped out –
from opposition or from boredom.
Apathy and obedience are
the opiates that have been chosen
for the people – by those masquerading
as democrats, by those who wish
to patronise, silence, manipulate us,
whatever coloured flag they sail under:
autocrats, cowards, plutocrats, traitors.
What a useful distraction and screen it was,
that lavish, weird pantomime of feudal mummery,
part Wizard of Oz, part Police State,
that convention of sycophants and drones,
that colloquium of tokenism,
that convocation of cliché and drivel,
that vicious Whitehall farce.
Alex Cox
July 28, 2023‘Part Wizard of Oz, part police state!’ Wonderful poem. When I was a lad, and you were my teacher, there were three things most people seemed to agree upon: we hated Nazis and the Eurovision Song Contest, and thought Prince Charles was a privileged imbecile. Funny how things (appear to) change…
Pat Rogerson
July 28, 2023We celebrated a special family wedding. A wonderful day, so many lovely memories to cherish.
Elise Oliver
July 29, 2023But many people were roused from their apathy by Zadoc the Priest and Penny Morduant the Sword Wielder.
David Selzer
July 30, 2023I too enjoyed the TV show. Was it churlish of me not to mention that?
Elise Oliver
July 30, 2023No more churlish than my admission that I couldn’t bear to watch it.
John Plummer
July 30, 2023I think your critique of the coronation is quite restrained, David, considering who paid for it all and what it was claimed to be representing. I would have built to a crescendo of indignation – but no one would be reading by then! So well said. Sharp and richly deserved. I retreated to a quiet Pod by a lake near York for three nights and managed to stay away from the national contamination. Although on Day 2 I observed with mixed emotions the parade of dozens of WW2 planes. I find these evocative because my mother used to talk of the war in the skies that she watched in horror.
David Selzer
July 31, 2023How ironic, John, that you should see the flypast before their Majesties! Contamination indeed! Interesting how popular the Putin playbook has become – if in doubt, reference WW2.
Mary Clark
August 2, 2023Yes, that combination of fantasy underpinned with menace: ‘part Wizard of Oz, part Police State’.