Bellytricks

By Jonathan Langdon



If you don’t know
You don’t know
The greatest puppets
Have the most to gain
Their padded stomach
Insulation against the plight
A quivering layer of dependency and drought

If you don’t know
You can’t know
All that shouting
The violent vociferous velocity
Of insults and exclamations
Is camouflage for
Ballots bought, ballots bound

If you don’t know
Should you care?
This belly politics
Is like a disease that blinds
With religious-like zeal
Swearing what is white is black
And what is black is white

If you don’t know
You should know
Politics, they say politricks
I say bellytricks, like insect-tics
They are parasites sitting heavy
Blotting out the possibilities
Of this misnomer we all
Haltingly call democracy