Villanelle Nr.19 — Woke

I deal with ‘PC’ by being pragmatic            
though taxed to the limit by those who are “woke”      
(the phrasing I’ve used is deemed ‘problematic’)      
     
My temperament’s simple and rather phlegmatic      
I’m honest and artful, an ordinary bloke;      
I deal with ‘PC’ by being pragmatic      
     
I wish not be crude or melodramatic      
but merely to question and tell a good joke —      
(intention referred to is deemed ‘problematic’)      
     
They’re trying, I’m sure, to be diplomatic      
awaken my conscience to how I just spoke …      
I deal with ‘PC’ by being pragmatic      
     
“Woke” folk, one concludes, are not charismatic      
for talk is all fraught with mirrors and smoke —      
(the cliché I’ve used is deemed ‘problematic’)      
     
And walking around with a cross that’s stigmatic      
they’re squeezing your meaning, making you choke …      
I deal with ‘PC’ by being pragmatic      
     
The trouble with “woke”? It’s synallagmatic*      
provoking enquirers to have a keen poke …      
(this testing suggestion is deemed ‘problematic’)      
     
and then conversation becomes quite traumatic      
as language is shredded, transformed at a stroke —      
I deal with ‘PC’ by being pragmatic      
     
Insisting they’re right, and coolly dogmatic      
“woke” is a mindset I’d like to revoke:      
(the word I have chosen is deemed ‘problematic’)      
     
What’s finally left is a mess that’s schismatic      
and fun interaction is skewered and broke —      
I deal with ‘PC’ by being pragmatic,      
(my grammar is lacking and deemed ‘problematic’).