THE REALITY PEOPLE
(FINALE OF SEEM AND
ONE, TRUE CARNIVAL)
the Reality TV people
are here
sheafs of complaints, want
to direct the program, start
a new government,
rewrite
the constitution
bore a few holes
get cured of scrofula
no piss-take this, all real
piss and shit
and yet so totally,
absolutely, wholly
postmodern
don’t worry
things will get surreal
but there
will be no art
no poetry
because
no imagination
so let them in
if you wish
alternatively, go
Leonidas at
the hot gates
fill
them with lead
as they burst
through the door
(contrary to appearances
they do die
are human
just a
bit confused
between
comic-book mythology
and religious conviction)
so much
divine damage
and yet
so little
as revolutions go
this one needs
a very small “r”
(smallness being the cause,
hence
all the sidearms
big as bazookas)
but all this
is what it is
despite all
the
everything
is fake
mindset
this
existential
conspiracy
no Disney ride here
I’m afraid, called
“you got
sold
down the river”
can make it into a movie
if can find
Johnny Depp
but speaking
of rivers
this must
be their Rubicon
they
Caesar’s legion
even unbeknownst to them
but — what is the
day’s hot take? —
is this their Julius
man of
steel
or lard
royale with cheese and
every shade of ice-cream
(but nudge-nudge, wink-wink)
everybody knows
the flavour
ultra-vanilla
this no
pundit, prophet did foresee
as
finale of seem
one true crazy carnival