No Thoughts of Their Own by Jennifer Lagier

On TV, political pundits
parrot talking points
fed to them by
public relations consultants.

Not a one expresses
original thought,
incisive analysis,
journalistic integrity.

It’s the mother of all reality shows.
A lewd, arrogant, King Kong
flirts with dictators, flaunts broken rules,
boasts moral immunity.

He climbs onto center stage,
snarls at the crowd,
badgers whoever disagrees,
assaults democracy.

Voters head to the polls and,
without knowledge or facts,
participate in a life and death version
of American Idol.

Jennifer Lagier has published twelve books and in literary magazines, taught with California Poets in the Schools, co-edits the Homestead Review, helps coordinate Monterey Bay Poetry Consortium Second Sunday readings. Newest books: Scene of the Crime (Evening Street Press), Harbingers (Blue Light Press). Forthcoming chapbook:, Camille Abroad (FutureCycle). Website: http://jlagier.net