Questions

It's rabble day again
In the chamber of elected horrors.
An undemocratic display
Of sidesteps and swipes
Evasions and invective
Huddled and heckling
In the massed ranks
Of party lines.

Performing
Not for those whom they claim to represent.
But for the corporations
The fatcats and the lobbyists
The swindlers, the donors.
You wouldn't pay
To see these performances
Of incompetent comedians.

And yet we do pay
With our lost jobs
And shoddy services.
Imploding infrastructure
Complicit corruption.
But who is to blame?

Have we been equally complicit
In the erosion
Of the bricks of society
By our disengagement.
Or have they unwound
The bonds of trust
And instead trussed us up
With soundbites that pit us
Against each other.
Or is the system beyond repair
A broken record playing
Us along to the same tune
Every five years
Where only the backing track changes.

These are the questions we need to ask.
These are the questions we need to answer.