El Nuevo Realismo No Realiza la Realeza*

More than real,

if reál is regal and royal,

these are the princes

of panhandling;

the undeserving poor,

industry’s fallout

their undrawn lot.

 

We await the rise

of the robots, but

they are already here:

we are the automatons,

the spirit of our age

is methylated

in bottles in bags.

 

‘The poor are always with us’

we are with them.

There is no longer any ‘you’

for either side.

How did we get here?

Full Marx for

making sure we did.

 

For your running

to the margins

has driven us left:

for every activist

there is an equal

and opposite

reactionary.

 

On screens big

and small, the

Puppet Show

Queen and her

entitled offspring

parade their

privileged ignorance.

 

There will be blood;

in paintings, in murals,

in corridors, in cells,

and on their hands.

 

*The New Realism Does Not Depict Royalty

Antonio Bruni's wikivisually page