Critical Merry-Go-Round

     
The poem stood facing the firing squad      
along with the play and the book      
as quackly critics tightened their fingers      
to kill off what they mistook      
     
and some of the mystics thought it quite odd      
how parasites fiddle with playing at god  
though can-do creatives believe they’re dead-ringers      
because of the hand that they shook      
     
and watching this melée the general public      
tries to make sense for a critical mass      
determine the crass from the holy enlightened      
discerning which one is the crook      
     
but power will finally rest in the feet …      
the public who vote sight and sound      
and poems etcetera die or survive      
as punters are grilling the ground      
     
then when it’s all over – thumbs up or thumbs down –      
the critics go back to their lives      
and grabbing some oil and a suitable stone      
kill time whilst they sharpen their knives.