by Julia Griffin

after Shelley

An old, purblind, spite-addled, Ubu King;
His spawn, their mates and exes, mouths agape
For any mogul’s droppings; jockeying
Lackeys excusing every sleazy jape;
States’ representatives who fawn and cling
While stretching private loopholes to escape;
Citizens gunned down in the streets and mocked
By government officials; a gagged press;
Violence glorified; compassion blocked;
Justice co-opted; merit powerless;
A cheated people, long past being shocked
By any filth their masters can concoct,
Whose vote, in all their manifold distress,
Remains still somehow anybody’s guess.