Kakistocracy

In the corridors of power
the deaf lead the blind
and the dumb do not speak.

The deranged and deluded,
have come to steal the throne.

In this world, rulers love no-one but themselves;
apparently oblivious, they lead us to oblivion.

We, the people, pave their paths of glory with our flesh.

… elsewhere, the zealous are cheering empty schemes…
… waving upraised hands, like prairie wheat blowing in the wind…
… so stirred, they are a disguise for leaders aimlessly fiddling…
… meanwhile, cities burn, all hell breaks loose…
… see no evil, hear no evil, say nothing of consequence…

In the pit below us, hidden among half-revealed intentions,
for some, lie roads to riches, avenues of opportunity.

For they are the movers and shakers,
the high priests of plenty, who come self-ordained,
elevated by their own divine right; damn right,
the best of the bunch, they come, coyly innocent;
beyond reproach.

But, dress them up in common cloth
and they will still crown themselves kings;
believe they will speak out for the weak
but watch them help themselves to everything;
hear them whip the crowds, shouting like hucksters.

They look down on the world; its people cry out
but they see only twisted faces whose grimaces
they take for smiles and whose screaming, to them,
sounds like adulation.

© BH, 2017

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I like the word ‘kakistocracy. Probably because the ‘kak’ part has a scatological resonance for us Scots. (As in ‘the leaders of the free world kak themselves when climate change is mentioned.’)

So, here once again, is an attempt to decipher the popularity of populism when set against the incompetence and buffoonery of those who excite it.

Either they’re very, very smart and are indulging in a sophisticated form of quadruple-think or the rest of us are even more stupid than previously thought.

Go figure…

Illustration is President Drumpf appearing from a populist arse. Forgive the vulgarity but it is an image about the biggest kak in this whole kakistrophic mess. Oh, and the Statue of liberty has a red face. Little wonder…

By the way, the suite of poems is Kakistocracy, Compulsion and Secrets, Kleptocracy.