Fedallah’s Hearse Propagandhi

As so many practiced diplomats
So too, your vaunted laureates
Whose access to the higher rungs
Of a cultural priesthood is hinged upon their flair for sophistry

Well, I vote you the best equipped
To shrink from speech that might suggest
Any thoughts your key target market might
Not have already signed off on and ratified

And I vote you most likely to clutter your language with
So much dead wood that no
Amount of pruning will reveal
Your intensive, protracted campaign of saying

Nothing at all
Your daydream of black-tie affairs at Rideau Hall
Your acceptance speech
Your dramatic pause

And don't forget to thank those
Bitter ex-musicians-cum-embedded-
Rock-journalists frantically applauding
The latest artist-formerly-known-as-

Iconoclast, giddy from the fumes of a fresh defection
Moping to the maudlin beat of a hat rack rhythm section
A tacit understanding of mutual non-aggression
Enjoyed by every nauseating do-nothing functionary