Like two dogs coupling –
What’s the difference
Between Marx and Capitalism?
Both lie programmed
As if they meant it.
And amidst those stars.
That still sparkle in the gutter
How clever to call my bonus an incentive.
With the same fluency and finance,
Luminaries gather at Davos
To be made rich quietly
In their villas afterwards.
While nations slide asking for information
To bankroll their currency.
Political parties start wars
And pocket the difference.
An image gold and burnished in every household.
Bubbles, shadows, assets – they’re all a party
As central bankers hand out all the smarties.
All money corrupts but absolute money
Corrupts completely naturally.
A black box in a black hole
Of unintelligible depth and distance.
With only the analysis
Of a man with white stick as echo.
Like I said, I’ve done more for communism
Than any communist.
This pup I bred
Will cry for a generation.
1
Starting easily
for engagement to see nobody:
a moment visible
but travelling in shadow.
Message ready.
The brain controlling sums alien.
Hand upon receiver, something personal,
to measure the smallest tremble.
Die hard guys laughing and giggling
as they ordered more pizza.
To the hot gates they go
as every director bid them.
2
As the smirk lifted
to bundle reserves in mysterious havens –
correlated lights for many to swim to.
At times motionless,
surface constant but horizon a mirage.
steps taken to finesse the figuring.
To recall their narrow, rounded beauty.
"Outstanding", awesome",
passed fit by Darwin
as darkness folds around my bonus.
From half a world away, hear this:
Hear me
‘Blood drink’.
My shadow a giant vampire squid.
I swim in silhouette
With tentacles that stick.
In many fathoms do I lurk
A rich banker doing god’s work.
Sit perfectly still and be kissed
By the warmth of on-line screen
This Good News, the New Year brings.
Bargains by the dozen,
A crowd of mad gunmen
Stormed a prosperous precinct.
Turning a well-known fast food outlet
Into a scene from ‘Blood and Ketchup’.
A prosperous year then to all fanatics
And everyone else in any kind of racket.
Such as our friends in government.
There are lots of cameras around
With which to film us.
It must surely make them smile
To see all those anxious feet
Chasing deals down Oxford Street.
My ecco ring, bonus is come
The old needle
Stands in a moss of green
Its broken point strikes me –
Once it was much higher
My feet uncertain
I stumble past.
A disappointed feeling
Numbless
It rattles silent.
My ecco ring, bonus is come.
To recall numbers counted
Their beauty
Does not smell and their humour
No mercy.
A flashing moment just waking up.
What was the grip you took ?
Paying ourselves for what goes up and up,
To eclipse the eclipse – to let it rip.