In these troubled contradictory times we live in, too many people are both far less than they seem, AND also the kind of creatures that would run concentration camps extremely efficiently.

When you have given up on life, this is where you go to die

The desperate dancers click their fingers out of sync
With each-other and the Valium tunes being played
The fascist (with a small f) holds tight to his beer bottle
Trying to look as reserved as possible in this situation
while she serves in slurs and entertaining burps

The ladies of the water-colour club sit outside in the sun
Surrounded by beauty they cannot see
Eyes shut tight in fear of the other, the darker, the actually alive
Whispering, debating pleasant and ineloquent
Over which woman created the prettiest snacks
While the smart little legend, the high toned mediocre
pontificates in his quiet but masculine way

They time travel in their sleep
To ‘safer’ decades
When cruelty was funny and bitterness addictive
Set in place now going nowhere fast
The future collapsed, yesterday too sad.

And I run away, straight into the storm
Towards vibrant art and dangerous songs
The rain is harsh and cold on my face
And I find myself shouting then singing
Singing then shouting