Fadism

20-11-2006

Christmas is a-coming...and the punters are getting fat. The Stirrer's poet laureate Brendan Hawthorne reckons we're all gluttons for punishment.

Fadism

Shop windows are turning their

fickle faces towards the season

of office parties and get-togethers

family arguments and greed-fuelled credit

The time when gluttony and indulgence

are paramount in the minds of

good-time over-spenders wanting a laugh

when weight-watching is off the menu

and seams become as stretched as the pounds

loaded into wayward shopping trolleys

Food outlets are already dripping with cholesterol

and sugar-based pre-packed products

in readiness for the big day of stuffed turkeys

served with all the trimmings of decadence

and the surviving traditions of cultural favourites

But beware! We're being fattened up again

place setting ourselves at the sacrificial mercy

of those style gurus and those bah humbuggers

so they can get their teeth into us all over again

A soft target for those who preach their philosophies to the wider audience

selling a holier-than-thou healthy food option

between the sheets of glossy magazines

One that doesn't lurk in the hazy light

somewhere at the back of the fridge

or beneath the easy-to-open lid of the biscuit tin

They're the ones who offer us a free visit

to the gym on a hung-over Boxing Day

no matter what's being repeated on the telly

They suggest going for a jog before the

echoes of Alka-Seltzer have had the chance

to die away from the throats of ‘never again' drinkers

so that New Year resolution diets can be sold

in those dark days of January guilt

and knock us all into an acceptable shape

for the onset of holidays, bikinis and trunks

© Brendan Hawthorne 2006

Check out more from Brendan and other local poets at www.poetrywednesbury.co.uk