On the Ropes / This One Too

1       On the Ropes

I

In the devastating wake
of generations of acting
above and beyond the law;

       of beating people raw
       with the back alley gloves
              of economic bondage

              — gloves whose drubbing gifts
              are blood  sweat toil and tears
                     from the debt-propelled fists
                     of servitude and drudgery —

after countless years
of relentlessly unrepentant
       unprosecuted thuggery;

       of systematic brutality;
              of the robogoon reality
              that is the worldwide reach

                     and unrestrained scope
                            of its financial predation;
                     of its subjugation of nations
                     and the crushing of their hopes

after so much time
refining legalized crime
the late-stage empire is bound

       to soon be found on the ropes
              getting pummeled to a pulp
              by depredations from within

       the ineluctable result
       of pervasive debasement
       with its flagrant pursuit and exaltation
                     of consistently unpunished sin.

II

Chillingly matter-of-fact
in delivering   its notoriously unabashed
       “take it or leave it
       but if you'd rather the latter
       you won't live to grieve it”  ultimatum

when conducting  — often all too openly —
       its accept whatever we offer diplomacy

the imperium
— singularly skilled  at imposing its will
              and drunk with degenerate clout —

       having never been brought to account
              and on the verge of flirting
              with getting soundly knocked out
                     — on the brink of its currency
                     losing its world-reserve crown —

begins  its final ignominious round
oblivious
to the imminence of its pending defeat

       the so-far-unstoppable champ
       of global control and oppression
                     convinced it won't ever be beat

as it sets its aggressive
overreach-depleted  unsuspecting self up
       for a limp   out-cold crash to the canvas
from an overdue hubris-fueled bite
of a knuckle-stuffed  jaw-smashing sandwich.


2       This One Too

Inescapably incapable  of self-reflection
allergic   it would appear  to introspection

like all downward-spiraling empires
       as they make their belligerent
       obnoxious  sot-in-a-crystal-shop way

stumbling   from one self-inflicted
mishap to another
              through the shard-littered clutter
                            of their late-phase decay

this one too  — like all senescing empires
              newly embarked on their course
                            of rapid  fated fading —

       was predictably quick to resort
       to blaming  this or that external force;

was quick with reflexive
ever-more-desperate deployments
of dishonest promises  hollow slogans
and beyond-preposterous finger pointing.


This one too
— on the threshold of wholesale implosion —
would soon be reduced

              to a paragon   of precipitous fiscal
                            moral and cultural decline;

to a symbol of social corrosion   spiritual rot
and the normalization of uncurbed corruption;

       to an incredible  shattering spectacle
                     of swaggering self-destruction.

This article was posted on Sunday, November 6th, 2022 at 8:02am and is filed under Poetry.