Colonel America Calling

The dove sat carefully on Liberty

lining her nest with down.

A few feathers fell free

a few loose feathers

fluttering down 

to feather 

the nests

below. 

 

She cooed sweetly

but her new chick 

said ‘coo-ark’

mimicking her,

then ‘quark,

then ’yawp’

as it grew

stronger,

she saw

 

her cuckooed dove

hatchling

as a mocking bird,

calling

in New-Speak

straining

to be understood,

straining 

for more space, 

more gas, 

more gold, 

more

 

like a colonising colonel, 

whose eagle’s eye

preys south

then north.

West and east 

will follow next.

 

But he’s balanced precariously,

puffing out his dovey chest

so more feathers fall,

he stamps his feet,

his call now sharp,

dummy dumped,

diaper dirty

stinking

for change

as the vultures

gather, 

chests bared

brooding

ready

waiting 

for him to fall,

 

knowing

that while the colonel still 

pushes buttons and counts his dough

Elvis left the building a long time ago

and soon the cuckoo will call in their time.

In The Club

Oh, the arrogance

embedded there,

that sense

of entitlement

of those who can 

those who can and do.

 

Our Lords and Masters

pulling our strings

while hidden away

in that different world,

a Rich Man’s Only Club

where champagne corks popped

as they pulled the strings for each other.

 

Yes, a rich man’s club par excellence

and, though druggies were plentiful,

Welfare scroungers were absent

and only a few black bodies

gained admittance

to this most in-decent society.

 

So where do we go now

after we’ve seen a lord

in his knickers

and a prince

on his knees,

where now 

from that place

where no crimes 

were committed,

“don’t you know.”

 

Do you know

where now?

The Letter

 

It was a letter for hand delivery

not private in the way of a love letter

but certainly not for the eyes of the maid.

 

It was not so much a letter as a gift,

a new recipe from me to my best friend

who will be amazed at my tasty invention.

 

I’m telling her it was mine

even though the maid instructed me

and the cook baked it for me as I watched

seated comfortably at the back of the kitchen.

 

The maid can’t read

so no one will know

it was not my invention.

No one will ever know

of my theft.