Hopeless Haven

Another Saturday night
in a one pub town; karaoke
with tone-deaf singers
crooning tunes their mothers,
fathers & grandfolk would have
recognised and approved.

Eisenhower lives here, in
spirit at least, watching over
this cultural stasis.

The beer flows only to numb,
to anaesthetise the awareness
of living in
a time capsule: 1953 came 'round
and took firm root.

Decay, demoralisation, a pointless
existence except for the
married and the timid, too
weak to assert themselves, to
make an escape attempt or to
dare a dream of hope.