The Waxing
I was a historical child
the more ancient the Pharaoh
the deeper the love, the machinations and cruelties
that all right royal regals seemingly beget,
was all the grist, French nobs
lording it over Saxon peasantry
the hustling and the vexing
of pigs and their swine, whether
spoken of as cow or le boeuf
houses rose and fell amidst
the corruption of their civility, the intransigent brutality
of the puritan impulse, imperial
England has these in its veins of involuntary
subjugation, carved into
the ships of its future empire
painstakingly retouching
what it inherits from its past with faux restorations
for a cleaner and more suitably
ennobled mythology
Un Travesti
Ardour ages into parody, respect
is on the cusp of decline, though still in pursuit
of the inheritance from our history
I research the folk origins of ermine drag
my mock love is for the allure
of conspicuous diamante
my resolving self that is emerging
finds a reflection
in the resplendent camp, of queendom
sceptred and orbed
the garishness of its insignia
and emblems,
yes, there is decadence there, something
empty headed and vulgar
in the opulence of this baroque goddess
as yet untarnished by any magnificent deflation
in her universal bosoms, but
no one is rushing yet to remove
a glorious queen so
lavishly bedecked
and encrusted with jewels of irony
& The Waning
Avoid
the street parties, break
every commemorative mug
I will not, just wave things,
put up ludicrous lengths of bunting
and erect a facile glee upon my face
however it is dressed, in fondant icing?
well, maybe, perhaps monarchies
are a mind altering drug
dowsed in saccharine, making it palatable
to flow sentimental patriotism
through sclerotic arteries
becoming a royal addict is a tradition
and a state that diminishes all
genuflecting ourselves to
a sovereign, to be a subject,
or something beyond that
where the tidal forces of convention, are resistable
kiss no finger
with an oversized bauble on it
do not pimp yourself
for a monarchy on the way out
re-branding itself
as this unifying solution
to a problem that its existence helped create
if they are just like you and me
why are they mega rich?
written May 2022 by
Stephen Lumb
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