I see Trans People and Muslims (or Brainwashed Mod)

I see Trans People and Muslims (or Brainwashed Mod)

I asked an acquaintance, “What do you see

In the Mail and on GB News every day?”

“I see trans-people and Muslims” said he;

“That’s why I’m voting for Reform UK.”

I said, “Reform want lower taxation

For billionaire brokers who live overseas,

Reaping the wealth of privatisation,

Hedge betting and market monopolies."

He, double-downing, declared, “I don’t care;

We’re not allowed to be English and proud,

There aint a Union Jack anywhere,

The wokes and lefties, are getting too loud,

And you can’t post stuff on X anymore,

Cos they’ve banned free speech and there’s two tier law;

And besides," my interlocutor said;

“The politics of envy don’t work mate;

They’ll just leave and live somewhere else instead."

I then inquired of his views on the state

Of our services and utilities,

To which he responded: “If we spent less

On benefits for so-called refugees

And scroungers, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

He ranted, brooking neither ifs nor buts;

Nullifying my counter suggestion

Pertaining to austerity and cuts,

Which he felt were barely worth a mention,

Beyond blaming it on lefties, in spite

Of fourteen years governance by the right.

Rant over; he donned a target skid-lid,

And scooted off on a chrome Lambretta,

Very much looking like his father did,

Before he got older and knew better;

Leaving me at the roadside, reflecting

On the irony of nostalgia being

The way forward in the unsuspecting

Minds of majority voters, seeing

Only trans-people and Muslims as the cause

Of the erosion of our infrastructure,

While right-wing recipients of applause

Get elected; furthering the rupture,

Always with yet more scapegoats in mind;

Reform being kings, in the eyes of the blind.

Transpotting

Transpotting

What’s with the author of Harry Potter?

Her transphobic tweets cause many distress;

why does she choose to be a TERF rotter?

Is it the moral panic that’s got her

parroting prejudice, spread by the press?

What’s with the author of Harry Potter?

Will she feel safer with a transpotter

in a public place, where women undress?

Why does she choose to be a TERF rotter?

Is she in league with the fascist trotter,

trampling on trans people in the US?

What’s with the author of Harry Potter?

The war on equality’s getting hotter:

kindness, compassion, is evermore less;

Why does she choose to be a TERF rotter?

It makes me feel sad, for while I’m not a

fan of her work, I admired her success:

what’s with the author of Harry Potter?

Why does she choose to be a TERF rotter?

Steer Clear

Steer-Clear (For Lola)

When I was younger, around middle age,

I entered a kind of spiritual stage,

Perused The New Testament, every page,

Considered the Christian position,

Thumbed the Quran, read many a surah,

Skimmed through the Gita, mulled over Buddha,

Tried meditation, struggled with yoga,

Lost interest, gave up on religion;

And dwelled in the hellscape of rants and rhymes,

Mostly concerning political crimes;

All the more so in these turbulent times;

Being angry is our constitution;

But on contemplating the posturing,

I asked myself, why am I bothering,

With all this hollering; quarrelling,

Amounting to mere noise-pollution?

Dear Lola, steer-clear of religions,

Left, middle, right-wing, politicians;

Be wary of media technicians;

Their platforms are more than they seem,

Whilst we are like lambs to the slaughter,

And many a demagogue supporter,

Will beckon you to poisonous water,

And urge you to drink from the stream.

Atypical Villanelle

Atypical Villanelle

This villanelle is atypical;

I’m presently mentally, physically, sick

of being politically lyrical,

and as boringly predictable,

as a pony with a singular trick;

this villanelle is atypical;

an attempt at being uncynical;

a breakaway, if you will, from the tic

of being politically lyrical;

and while it may be neither mystical,

romantic, nor especially slick,

this villanelle is atypical;

decidedly apolitical,

a nineteen line ramble, minus the kick

of being politically lyrical;

no left, right, middle, no ridicule;

of blue, red, yellow, not even a lick!

this villanelle is atypical,

of being politically lyrical.

Gabby Andy the Right-Wing Cab Driver

Gabby Andy the Right-Wing Cab Driver

Gabby Andy the Right-Wing Cab Driver

I once took a taxi to Weatherspoon’s,

For a pint of draught vintage dry cider;

And met a yea-sayer of Brexit boons;

Gabby Andy, the right-wing cab driver.

Braving the potholes that blight our estate,

(And indeed are a plague on the nation),

Unprompted, he told me, “Britain was great,

Before wokeness and mass-immigration”.

“I’m not a racist”, he loudly proclaimed,

And I inwardly judged him a liar;

Your bigoted views are deeply ingrained,

Gabby Andy, you right-wing cab driver.

He lavished praise on MP, Rupert Lowe;

“A patriot and gentleman with flare”;

Omitting or mayhap, he didn’t know,

Of Lowe’s interests in private healthcare.

The policies of UKIP and Reform UK,

Will raise health costs higher and higher;

More than a working class racist could pay,

Gabby Andy, you right-wing cab driver.

We arrived, and I, by way of goodnight,

Said, “I’d rather be woke than a wanker”!

Upon which he spat a barrage of spite,

And expletives decidedly ranker:

“The culture of woke is Marxist”, said he,

With a spittle of rancid saliva;

How more brainwashed, could he possibly be?

Gabby Andy, the right-wing cab driver.

And though this scenario never occurred;

Sadly many a YouTube subscriber,

Listens and hangs on the man’s every word;

Gabby Andy, the right-wing cab driver.