A small man sits at a very long table telling very big lies and staring like a doll
by Claudia Court, with image by Alix Emery
Russian dolls are built to shrink
wrap around the next size down
stream bursting its banks
invest your money
can’t buy you love
is like a merry-go-round
table discussions will take place
names to be written in capitals
Paris Rome or Kyiv
patrolled by soldiers
made of toast
masters raising their glass
ceiling for the fairer sex
bomb explodes without warning
flares are so seventies
music was uniquely good
gracious is that the time
zone in on your target
practise what you preach
to the converted
barn owls screech all night
sirens wail in wartime
rations are never enough
to satisfy a small man