Poetic Justice

In a week when we hear tell of three members of the Supreme Audit Agency being suspended for receiving bribes from the General Elections Commission who also paid kickbacks to top Ministry of Finance officials, and of massive corruption of Aceh relief funds in the House of Representatives, Jakartass is pleased to organise a Poetry Competition.

The topic is, what else, Corruption.

I am led to do this because apparently George Bush Jr. is about to publish a slim volume of his verse.

The poems reveal a sensitive, literate side of the Commander-in-Chief not usually shown to the public.

This is his It's Tough Being the Most Powerful Man Who Ever Lived

Dick and Don and Condi Rice
And sometimes a throw of dice.
Having so much help at hand certainly is nice.
Mom and Dad and mostly God,
If I ever had to think things out myself it would certainly feel odd.

I do detect a certain je ne sais quoi about his oeuvre.

Thinking of powerful men ~ ignoring Jakartass for the moment ~ leads me to Tony Blair who is now immortalised in a children's nursery rhyme, a medium which has long supplied a sometimes coded oral history of key royal and political events.

The rhyme, which could make less politically-minded parents long for the simple innocence of Mary and her little lamb, is an earnest ditty intended to educate youngsters on the government's decision to take Britain to war in Iraq.

Baker Tony's Pizza

Baker Tony baked a pizza
very round and thin.
He said he added olives
but he never put them in.
The stuff that he had grated
and sprinkled on to please
was only yellow sawdust
although he called it cheese.
The rich tomato topping
was nothing more than dye
so Baker Tony's pizza
made all the children cry.

By Angela Martin, aged 57½

Entries to the Jakartass Poetry Competition can be made in the comments or by email.

Prizes will be considered, although prestige through publication on this blog should be enough.

Here's a few lines to get you started.

SBY is a good guy
Who rarely makes me cry ......

Tut tut Suharto, goodbye .....

Sutiyoso is a bozo ....

 

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¶ 6:00 pm