deepundergroundpoetry.com
Villanelle Nr.16 — Dictator's Blues
It’s ever so hard to be a dictator
stressfully vigilant, watching your back
constantly having to prove you’re the greater
sifting through masses of personal data,
listening to peasants whinge on about lack -
it’s ever so hard to be a dictator
throwing opponents to bored alligators
firing bad staff who have given you flack
constantly having to prove you’re the greater.
I am the nation’s supreme educator
ensuring this country’s ahead of the pack -
it’s ever so hard to be a dictator
paying for fuel to run excavators
to bury the traitors living in shacks
constantly having to prove I’m the greater.
And what do I get? Called Terminator
after all I’ve done for you - cut me some slack!
It’s ever so hard to be a dictator
constantly having to prove I’m the greater.
stressfully vigilant, watching your back
constantly having to prove you’re the greater
sifting through masses of personal data,
listening to peasants whinge on about lack -
it’s ever so hard to be a dictator
throwing opponents to bored alligators
firing bad staff who have given you flack
constantly having to prove you’re the greater.
I am the nation’s supreme educator
ensuring this country’s ahead of the pack -
it’s ever so hard to be a dictator
paying for fuel to run excavators
to bury the traitors living in shacks
constantly having to prove I’m the greater.
And what do I get? Called Terminator
after all I’ve done for you - cut me some slack!
It’s ever so hard to be a dictator
constantly having to prove I’m the greater.
Published 3rd Oct 2019
| Edited 9th Mar 2024
Author's Note
2nd Comp entry for "Show me the Government", hosted by Babydoll.
Villanelle Nr.17 can be found here:
https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/poems/366259-bureaucrat-a-villanelle/
Villanelle Nr.15 can be found here:
https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/poems/354391-systemic-tragedy/
(photo credit: yang-jing-KVuJ9Y8i8fA-unsplash)
Villanelle Nr.17 can be found here:
https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/poems/366259-bureaucrat-a-villanelle/
Villanelle Nr.15 can be found here:
https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/poems/354391-systemic-tragedy/
(photo credit: yang-jing-KVuJ9Y8i8fA-unsplash)
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likes 15
reading list entries 2
comments 27
reads 835
Commenting Preference:
The author encourages honest critique.
3rd Oct 2019 6:40pm
dark, dark humour embracing today's 'modern dictators', wrapped in a classy little form. love it
5th Oct 2019 3:29pm
Thank you butters; it's hard to be upbeat about today's political environment but neither do I want to promote defeatism, or get cynical. I guess over-exaggeration and humour are one route.
3rd Oct 2019 6:55pm
Impressed by your form and the mastery of said ... but dictators are a bit passe (accent on final e) ... it's all post totalitarianism nowadays ...
5th Oct 2019 3:30pm
You're absolutely right, AB; I'm still living in the cold-war era with just a few baddies. Now the world is awash with them.
Lol! The subtle syllabic harmony and refrain line act as a great time keeper for the tempo of the piece, a spine upon which the rest of the write unfolds its limbs. Rendered with a perfect balance of cheek and gravitas. You have a way with words Josh. I love it. This makes me think of my morning walk today, I passed a street light, upon which some youth spray painted, "Delete the rich." It made me think about how the human dramas perpetuate, throughout the ages, changing, essentially, only stylistically. That graffiti could have been written in Latin, upon a wall in Rome, in Greek, upon the Parthenon, and likely was.
5th Oct 2019 3:34pm
Thank you Daniel. Glad I managed to strike a reasonable balance between cheek and gravitas. I tend to see my "political villanelles" as poetic cartoons where exaggeration plays a role but not to scare, rather to make me smile in desperate times, leading I hope to a bit of relief and a chance to 'regroup' for the next round.
"Delete the rich" - the growing polemic is scary - and how the few have managed to control the many over millennia is instructive as well as sometimes depressing.
"Delete the rich" - the growing polemic is scary - and how the few have managed to control the many over millennia is instructive as well as sometimes depressing.
3rd Oct 2019 8:05pm
LOL! Fantastic! You did a great impersonation of Arnold! Best of luck in the comp! This is a freaking winner!
5th Oct 2019 3:37pm
Arnold, oh dear, of course I should have known when using the we word 'teminator' of the association. I was trying to do a Russian accent { :)) } - back to the drawing board - but of course Austrian & Russian intonations tend to be similarly heavily accented.
5th Oct 2019 3:48pm
Anonymous
3rd Oct 2019 8:38pm
Dear Josh, competition aside, this write is ever so in contact with the times we are living. God save us from "the dictator" of our time. Excellent
5th Oct 2019 3:39pm
Thank you J. I was aware the poem is a bit too close to the bone for comfort given current global affairs. The question that taxes me more is how to live with integrity in such times. My parents faced similar questions in the 1930s.
3rd Oct 2019 9:25pm
Josh, you don't disappoint. I was both engaged and chuckling throughout this piece. Nicely done, poet
5th Oct 2019 3:40pm
Anonymous
3rd Oct 2019 11:52pm
This along with the sarcasm relentlessly flows.
5th Oct 2019 3:43pm
Thank you Johnny - striking a balance between sarcasm and humour, accuracy and cartoon-like exaggeration is a challenging exercise and threw me back into teenage mode and the cold war and Russians as the bad guys.
4th Oct 2019 00:09am
fascism appeals to the baser instincts
of people who feel undervalued, which
they probably are, particularly so
by the fascists ..
of people who feel undervalued, which
they probably are, particularly so
by the fascists ..
5th Oct 2019 3:45pm
A neat insight, Paul. The world is run by the manipulation of symbols and psyches, it seems. (the money-as-debt banking system notwithstanding).
4th Oct 2019 00:32am
Man you're a master!!👏🙌
Very much dig this and all the wonderful comments!
Very much dig this and all the wonderful comments!
5th Oct 2019 3:46pm
Anonymous
- Edited 21st Oct 2019 5:45am
4th Oct 2019 12:50pm
<< post removed >>
5th Oct 2019 3:47pm
4th Oct 2019 2:19pm
Dear J,
I have learned something new today about writing and I have you to thank. Villanelle.
I read this to myself first and enjoyed the flow and rhyme and then listened to your recitation and loved it all the more!
Excellent and clever write. Good luck in this comp! H🌷
I have learned something new today about writing and I have you to thank. Villanelle.
I read this to myself first and enjoyed the flow and rhyme and then listened to your recitation and loved it all the more!
Excellent and clever write. Good luck in this comp! H🌷
5th Oct 2019 3:57pm
Thank you Honoria. The villanelle has its roots in 16th century Italy (same time and place as the Madrigal was emerging) and grew from country dances, hence the repeating lines reminiscent of a repeating refrain.
It has a history of being "anti-elitist, female-friendly, cross-cultural, collaborative ..." and is composed "...in the spirit of improvisation" (from a villanelle anthology edited by Annie Finch and Marie-Elizabeth Mali, Pocket Books, 2012).
You''ll find a few more of them in my archive and I have (I think) added the word villanelle to the titles to make them easier to find. Most have audios with them too. Happy hunting :))
It has a history of being "anti-elitist, female-friendly, cross-cultural, collaborative ..." and is composed "...in the spirit of improvisation" (from a villanelle anthology edited by Annie Finch and Marie-Elizabeth Mali, Pocket Books, 2012).
You''ll find a few more of them in my archive and I have (I think) added the word villanelle to the titles to make them easier to find. Most have audios with them too. Happy hunting :))
5th Oct 2019 00:08am
Yes there is a reason why Laozi said to know the masculine but keep to the feminine...so many men and women hunger for power over others...such a masculine thing to do...ah dictators...a dick here and a dick there. Powerful use of sarcasm Josh.
Cheers...Harry
Cheers...Harry
5th Oct 2019 4:02pm
Thank you Harry. Having been brought up with the repeated saying "Sarcasm is a sign of departing wit. When sarcasm predominates, ignorance invariably asserts its superiority" ... I am now hard-wired to avoid sarcasm (and cynicism) but I think it has a role which you suggest has been properly used in the poem in this context - so that's a relief :)) Thank you.
5th Oct 2019 6:31pm
Josh, you continue to floor me with your spoken word pieces. First that rhyme scheme is flawless, your delivery so smooth and the overall content speaks volumes. (That and the accent was priceless).
Good luck in the comp.
Good luck in the comp.
5th Oct 2019 8:57pm
Hi Wally, thank you for your enthusiastic support, and the RL - makes all that practicing my Russian accent worth while (yep, it was supposed to be Russian). But perhaps I'm stuck in the Cold War era; as AB pointed out, we live in a post-totalitarianism age - well, maybe soon - meanwhile individual characters stand out and play the time-honoured role of bad-guy.
