Sick Joke

The joke asks; "What is black and blue and does not like sex"
"The poor little boy locked away in my cupboard"; is the reply
My words contain no truth, have no reality, just dark irony
Much worse is this world of denial and a reality we forget
Whole new dictionaries of synonyms and words redefined
Axis of evil, splinter cells, acts of atrocity and insurgency
Imprisonment without charge, interrogation with immunity
Enemy combatants, prolonged constraint and waterboarding
Terror threat levels raised to severe and we need protecting
Illusionary weapons of mass destruction and the war of lies
Intervention to suppress the terrorists who seek to destabilise
Necessary collateral damage of purest humanitarian motives
Physical, psychological, sexual and religious abuse of captives
Words so far from the truth that meaning needs to be described
Attempted suicide is "manipulative self injurious behaviours"
Actual suicide is "asymmetric warfare committed against us"
When reality is wrong and comprehension is beyond belief
There is a strange human mechanism to laugh with relief

The joke asks; "What have a penis and a bible got in common"
"Maybe being pushed down your throat by a priest"; is the reply
My words are hollow and from a dark heart comes sarcasm
Much worse is the incomprehension and history we ignore
New descriptions, words appropriated, terminology of spin
Toxic assets, hedge funds, credit derivatives and securitization
Gripped by liquidity restraints, necessary financial deregulation
Quantitative easing, vulture capitalism, and neoliberalism
We are in the midst of a once-in-a century credit tsunami
Troubled Assets Relief Program to save their balance sheets
A bank bailout by the tax payer to protect shareholder assets
Worldwide over a trillion dollars to brace a fiasco of greed
Negative equity, foreclosure and eviction of those in need
Actions of the powerful hidden in spin require clarification
Subprime is "predatory loan-making to the impoverish"
Theft is "eviction of the poor and payment to the rich"
The facts are there and obvious and the blame is social
As we carry on regardless complicit in our own denial

No sick joke this time as in the current climate its not needed
Open your eyes to injustice and causes required but unheeded
My words are strong, laden with anger and full of criticism
Much worse is apathy, the importance of self over the many
New demographics, socio groupings, condescending jargon
Nimbys, dinks, baby boomers, yuppies and the nuclear family
The necessity of the consumer, and governments of hypocrisy
Regeneration programs, legislative framework and "Democracy"
The lack of resources and a world population that is exploding
False idols and new gods resplendent in the excess of celebrity
Breakdown of society, community and the loss of philanthropy
A corporation controlled media and the manipulation of illusion
Requirements of profit, expansion and workforce mobilisation
The education from birth to glorify individual achievement
Silent in your satisfaction of what you own is attainment
These things are not your dilemma and you remain reticent
Disinterest, egotism and the deceit of "too little too late"
Maybe the most disgusting jokes are the words never said

Reasoning from the author
Firstly I apologise for the choice of the two “sick jokes”. Yes totally disgusting and I can thank a trawl of the internet and http://www.sickipedia.org/ for that.
I am not sure if you can call it poetry or even if it was meant to be. If it is poetry then it is meant to be read along the lines of a performance form. The three stanza's are supposed to be compared line by line and the link between war, finance and society is deliberate.
Without doubt attempts are made to hide and misinform and society either becomes disenchanted with obvious truth and lies. Whether apathy is engineered or a natural construct is questionable. “Sick Joke” is a question in itself and it provokes offence and it's question is to the elements that offend the most.
I believe many of the elements are self explanatory. “Illusionary weapons of mass destruction and the war of lies” most people might have doubts on the intentions of Iraq and Afghanistan. “We are in the midst of a once-in-a century credit tsunami” is an Alan Greenspan quote from a congressional testimony. For anyone aware of financial history it would seem a perverse quote. Currently every decade seems to require a bailout for its various crisis's of greed.
I would like to end on a note that this is not anti government or state rhetoric. Government should be to protect the people from the powerful and not themselves. Something seems to be lost in modern politics, which I will point a finger at the corporation.

Thanks
Bretton


Sick Joke by Bretton Woods is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.