Epigraphic poem: Borrowed Tactics

Epigraphic poem: Borrowed Tactics

by Mark Allinson

Senator McCarthy was a bastard, as we know,
To damn and black-list artists till they couldn’t get a go.

We shouldn’t judge an artist by the company he keeps,
But by his work alone—some of the best were private creeps.

But now we have the numbers we can use McCarthy’s trick
To shun and black-list artists who oppose our PC clique.

And like McCarthy we will tell you who you shouldn’t read,
We’re poles apart in theory but we’re fascist both in deed.
First published in Tarn, 2009