Snowstorms

by Derek Morrison

Snowflakes falling on Ivory Tower
Privileged pressure exerting power
Primed for insult and outrage too
Detecting heretics from any clue
Exorcise those now deemed incorrect
Such bygone stars deserve no respect
So only safe ideas can they exchange
All falling within the comfort range
Learning only where none feels hurt
With no requirement to explore the dirt
In building silos of righteous thought
Militant intolerance has been wrought
Divergent opinions now shut down
For new Puritans to claim the crown
Proclaiming safe speech they defend
But thought-crime is the actual trend
New Hate Weeks they now opine
Defining those that crossed the line
No platforms; don’t hear them speak
Drowning message with shout and shriek
And what Trojan is this free speech zone?
This meme nursery, where weeds are sown
Establish new orthodoxy; apply the codes
Whims and affectations travel scholar’s roads.

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Two-up

by Derek Morrison

Riding abreast dialogue flowed
As they joined the busy road
Single up! Came leader’s behest
They ignored; they knew best
Important to assert two-up mode
They all know the Highway Code
Behind; impatient engines gunned
But closed ears this cue shunned
Single up! Came leader’s shout
Again failed to insert some doubt
Single up! Came leader’s scream
Words still flowing like a stream
Riding abreast dialogue flowed
Until silenced; as heads hit road.

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Fake News

by Derek Morrison

Fake News comes the Trumpet call
The faithful hear, they are in thrall
Wield Fake News to smite them down
For He now wears the media crown
Apprentice star emits searing light
Troublesome truths now burning bright
Only He could fix all that was wrong
For His people need a leader strong
So Russian Bear now declared no thug
Ursine brothers now embrace and hug.

And it’s Id and Ego who must be hired
While the unbelievers must be fired
Let ‘Art of the Deal’ the people inspire
By spectral author not the artful liar
Fake News press ‘enemy number one’
For they frustrate what must be done
Fake News is what His people hears
So filter messages and close their ears
No briefings here for the media club
He will forge his own fortress hub.

Like like some dark lord in his Tower
From stormy skies He builds his power
Summons lightning bolts to make a hit
On all those ‘others’ who just don’t fit
But yet it was He that took the prize
As mainstream media cast their eyes
On the actors playing by older rules
Rejecting He from different schools
And so Fake News plays useful part
A fearsome weapon for spinner’s art.

So ‘wrong’ truths to false become recast
Impervious armour against enemy blast
For He knows how to ‘drain the swamp’
Assault their truths, proclaim His pomp
Globalisation’s losers new Lords seek
For the ‘deplorables’ see a future bleak
And an ‘elite’ class sneering in contempt
Until ‘deplorables’ let their anger vent
Only their Apprentice star felt their pain
From declining futures of excluded gain.

So new narratives found receptive ears
Post-truth prescriptions to allay all fears
The Fox now shaping the Trumpet notes
Sound Spicy tweets to reach His votes
By claiming conspiracies by the score
That need rooting out from the core
Defining new enemies of the State
Let Him remake the country great
Fake News comes the Trumpet call
The faithful heard, He has the ball.

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