STATE/BANQUET

Donald Trump is on a state visit to the UK.

Windsor Castle. A ride through the estate in the Royal carriage led by the horse guard. The road flanked by the Queen's troops in red coats. A royal dinner with the King and Queen and guests. Meeting with the hated Prime Minister Stammer. There is no mention of his stepping foot in London. Tens of thousands of protestoers have rallied to denounce 47. Not that he cares.

Carol Ann Duffy, a past poet laureate of Britain, had nothing good to say of the monarchy or Trump “I think the past couple of years, with the evil twins of Trump and Brexit … I don’t remember ever having felt such a kind of lowering abstract stress coming from the political aura,” she said according to the Guardian adn she wrote the following poem.

STATE/BANQUET

How it glitters and shines, The Grand Service,
among the rocks and the rubble,
laid out on a breezeblock horseshoe table,
six crystal glasses per setting.
It took eight servants three weeks to polish -
silver coated in a thin layer of gold -
even the concrete dust in the air seems glamourised
and the ruins are decked in the uplifting flags of
democracy.

To start, fillet of Dover sole filled with salmon mousse,
served on a bed of leeks with white wine sauce.
Poached Sandringham venison with truffles to follow,
then Key Lime Pie, and among the wines,
Chateau Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, 1990.
Yum-yum. Let the trumpets sound on the bombsite
as the great and the good pick their way through,
and a famished child peers through a bullet-hole in a wall.

Free Palestine__