resist much obey little
Walt Whitman
you never know
what he might be
from day to day
sometimes he’ll say
something to catch you
on the hop
something you night
for a moment
even believe yourself
except for long experience
to the contrary
the following day
he might say the opposite
at the same time
glowing with sincerity
he’s a man of the people
with whom he has
nothing in common
and you know he despises
but he gets away with it
nothing is what it seems
or sounds with him
he’s a poodle-faker
nonpareil
and some succumb:
he’ll tell them
black is white
right is wrong
lies are truth
and they’ll believe
and wag their tails too
mark you
he’s not just ours
he’s part
of an internationally
select band
who run the world
they are knee-deep
in gelt –
in gelt not guilt
please note –
guilt’s an emotion
which has no currency
with poodle-fakers
they’ve been
getting away with it
for centuries
and devoutly practise
what they preach
.
Jeff Cloves
In Jaroslav Hasek’s anarchic novel of 1921-23
The Good Soldier Schweik (Penguin Modern Classic)
Schweik falls foul of political and military poodle-fakers
and defeats them by faking idiocy – and let that be
a lesson to us all
Illustration: Atlanta Wiggs
Before he was conscripted
Comment by jeff cloves on 15 February, 2020 at 9:34 amSchweik’s actual trade
(if trade it can be called)
was poodle-faking
at this he was
grossly incompetent
and thus he was not
ankle-deep in gelt
and was widely
regarded as an idiot
but the novel is moot
as to whether he was so
or simply faked idiocy
he survived the war
and is an endearing
and hilarious creation.
I see him as part of
‘The invisible insurrection
of a million minds’
and as such
is a continuing
inspiration