I don’t often mix prompts but this week they seemed to fit together:
Sunday Whirl (Wordle #178) gave us
hospital, tests, anxiety, fluff, words, ouch,
pester, blood, know, meal, center, jello
And Three Word Wednesday gave us:
geek, carcass and slash
The Skewed World of Smoking Joe.
Treasurers come and Treasurers go
But few are as reviled as Smoking Joe.
He smokes cigars, he drive flash cars,
The poor and weak are his natural foe.
His ministry is full of geeks
Who give his dream its lethal tweaks,
They will tear apart our social heart
To make the feudal land he seeks.
He slashes back all progress made
His final goal is to just downgrade,
He tests each thing for the tax it will bring:
Is Jello a food or a wrestling aid?
He has no feel for what’s at stake;
His choice of words—a big mistake:
“Should the poor have a car, they don't drive it very far”
Like “if they need a meal, then why not cake?”
The hospitals are filled with anxious folk
Who do not share the fat man’s joke.
But they’ll disappear this financial year
When hospital funding goes up in smoke.
The sick and old, in their desperate plight,
Do not pester his sleep at night.
He wishes them away, in a cold-blooded sort of way,
Just stack the carcass out of sight.
Joe says that we must be very tough
To rid our life of its social fluff,
We are just little workers, making cash for the jerkers
Who never learnt how to say ‘enough’.
Self-centred and quite proudly so,
Determined to reframe the status quo,
Stuff the poor, the rich need more,
Such is the world of Smoking Joe.
.
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© J Cosmo Newbery 2014
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Ouch!
ReplyDeleteI wondered where that word had gone.
DeleteThe ouch permeates every line. Not his 'owies' though.
ReplyDeleteDisgusting individual!
ReplyDeleteGood he's smoking... He'll be gone. Selfish brute... ;-)
ReplyDeletemakes me feeling like i could bitch whole day.
ReplyDeleteWhen the governments policies first came out I realised that their answer to the financial crisis was to create a much larger section of the population that was chronically poor. Only then could the incomes of the rich be maintained.
ReplyDeleteAt least you avoided the obvious interpretation of the wordle words. Original and quirky as ever, Cosmo.
ReplyDeleteJoe says that we must be very tough
ReplyDeleteTo rid our life of its social fluff,
We are just little workers, making cash for the jerkers
Who never learnt how to say ‘enough
Great take Cosmo! Like your style not just spectacular word craft but with great life's observations Must have taken lots of thoughts on this!
Hank
If he had a conscience Smoking Joe would be saying ouch..but then the world would be a fairer place...and I think that dream may exceed the lifespan of our Sunday Whirling days...
ReplyDeleteseems you're describing political scenario of my State here in India...
ReplyDelete'The poor and week are his natural foe.'
ReplyDeleteWeek? Don't you mean 'weak'?
The poem struck me as a bit too consistently negative. But maybe that's just me.
Yes, I meant 'weak'. Careless editing. Fixed now.
DeleteHow would you introduce positivity in a case like this?
Long for the next election? Mull over the value of Joe as shark food?
It is interesting that when it was determined that my Son would not get better, we were banished to the county, better not to have to look at death and dying, looks bad for the hospital. When those poor souls are gone, the hospital looks better.
ReplyDeleteIt would be good if the likes of him could go up in smoke.
ReplyDeleteGod save us from the Smoking Joes of the world!
ReplyDeleteThis skewed skewed world...ouch! ~ nicely done with words mixture from 2 prompts.
ReplyDeleteOuch! Well delivered...
ReplyDeleteZQ
HaHa. This lovely slice and dice is the only reason to ever tolerate bad politicians. bravo.
ReplyDeleteA very telling portrait of a social menace.
ReplyDeleteOuch is right! Stinging verse!
ReplyDeleteSadly I know too many Smokin' Joes in our government...callous and unfeeling...just greedy. I could feel the emotion and grit in every word...
ReplyDeleteThe fewer Smoking Joes the better it seems.
ReplyDeleteA very well written social poem.
ReplyDeleteJoe - the political corporate machine personified. Love this, but don't love Joe.
ReplyDeleteAhh the soulessness of some people...
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
Bravo!
ReplyDeleteGreat rhyming scheme. especially the third line of each stanza.
You did great using an unexpected perspective of a hospital administrator/political slant...using these difficult words to create a smooth, crafty, and astute poem.
Nice piece. A lot of work, I'm sure.
Congrats!!!!
Randy
Unfortunately, the world of smoking Joe seems eerily familiar these days. But, what an amazing response to the wordle prompt. Brilliant and thought-provoking.
ReplyDeleteWhat an unpleasant person! Great piece though.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a reverse Robinhood
ReplyDeleteTest comment from Fred
ReplyDeleteSuch people are inevitable though!
ReplyDelete