Jeremy Corbyn - Weapon of Mass Destruction

Come all ye Labour generals of yore, time to dust
off the old medals and go to war. A new crusade:
chemical, biological, nuclear - this time the enemy
has it all - puts Terminator in the shade: a sharp blade,
this one! He'll blow us all into next week, he's lighting
the fuse even as we speak; this is not baloney - take it
from the trusted lips of Gordon, Neil and yes, Tony.

The fiend - his disciples gather now at fabled Mordor
in North Islington, (do not consult your A to Z for the
nearest tube - everything in that borough is underground.)
A paradise lost, regained, yet forever lost in its own
subversive way. In fact I used to live there once, strolled
from Tufnell Park to Holloway; can bear personal witness
that the area has its share of eccentrics, rebels, fallen angels
and those generally unhappy with their lot; superficially
not unlike most places, the familiar faces of every street
and town; unfortunately for hawkish eyes the lie of the land
reveals no exotic desert sand, no satanic oil wells to claim -
no mountain ranges where terror often dwells. Don't be fooled,
there is a whiff of fire and brimstone all the same, after all
the so-called ordinary citizens have voted this dark knight in
for the last thirty two years. But they are distracted innocents
and anyway too many; single out their leader - He is to blame!

PETE MULLINEAUX

Pete Mullineaux lived in Islington, north London for several years. He now lives in Galway, Ireland. He has published three collections: Zen Traffic Lights, (Lapwing 2005), A Father's Day (Salmon Poetry 2008) and Session (Salmon 2011). A new collection is forthcoming in 2016.