Look! There it is, your civic pride
back from putting an X in a right wing box,
back from egging on a bigot down the ‘Spoons,
back from trolling Facebook, Twitter,
giving it all lives matter and I’m not racist but,
back from Incel 101, back from dude, bro,
brah, one of the lads, excitable boy innit,
back from awright darlin’, only havin’ a joke,
fuck you then, femiNazi, PC gone mad,
an Englishman can’t speak his mind anymore.
Look, here it comes, full of The Sun, full of
The Daily Mail, full of easily disproved scare stories,
full of somebody else’s rhetoric, full of hate.
Here it comes, your civic pride, blaming it
on the blacks, the Asian (BAME? what’s BAME?
fuckynell, PC gone made innit), blaming it
on the Scots, the Welsh, the Irish, blaming it
on the Jews, the Muslims, the Catholics,
the Protestants, the Hare Krishnas, blaming
it on anyone who looks different, sounds different,
buys the Guardian or reads books on public transport.
Here comes your civic pride, barely able
to articulate what “it” is but shrieking blame
blame blame like a demented character
on a Sunday evening BBC melodrama.
Civic pride with a hard-on for World War II,
civic pride with a collection of military insignia
bought off the net, civic pride with back issues
of Guns & Ammo and a second hand paperback
about the SAS. Civic pride down the pub
giving it our lads, Churchill, Union Jack
(glass in the face for the smartarse who mentions
it’s only a jack if it’s flown on a ship). Civic pride
at chucking out time giving it Thatcher, Falklands,
Port Stanley, Belgrano. Civic pride giving it
bring our brave boys home and send in the troops
and not really seeing the difference or the problem.
Civic pride with a union flag bumper sticker
on a German or Italian or Japanese car,
civic pride with a union flag tee-shirt
necking a pint of Heineken, a pint of Grolsch,
civic pride with a moby in a union flag case
ordering an Indian, ordering a Chinese,
settling down to an America cop show.
Civic pride advocating Buy British.
Civic pride wanting British jobs for British people.
Civic pride saying Britain first and not seeing
the problem, and not seeing the problem.
Hatespeak and division and not seeing the problem.
Parroting media barons and not seeing the problem.
Blaming the gays and not seeing the problem.
Blaming women and not seeing the problem.
Blaming the jobless and not seeing the problem.
Blaming the victims and not seeing the problem.
Being part of the problem and not seeing the problem.
Look! Here it is, your civic pride,
breathless from pegging it over hill
and field, from glen to glen (oh Tommy boy,
the dog whistle politician’s calling … ),
hammering through the hamlets, the villages,
the towns, the cities, full-tilt heads down
see you at the end through this green
and pleasant land, screeching up
just in the nick of time like Jim Dandy
to the rescue only it’s Tommy innit? Tommy this
and Tommy that. Ought to give him a statue.
Photo Credit: FCO via Flickr