Thatcher’s Clothes Saved for the Nation

Old judges with limited brain power

will sometimes tell juries

that women who have suffered

at the hands of violent men

were asking for it

as a result of the way they were dressed.

Politicians who’ve known too much power

will often tell voters

that people who lack money

and want a bit from the state

shouldn’t ask for it

even if poverty makes them depressed.

Now an old museum with lots on show

has quietly been told

that a woman who dressed to kill

and handbagged the nation

wore clothes that cry out for display

-we can remember her, and be blessed.

She was a conviction politician

whose words ring true even and especially

if you write them backwards:

Where there is harmony

may we bring discord; where there is truth

may we bring error; where there is faith,

may we bring doubt; where there is hope

may we bring despair. And now

she’s maybe going to help us again

if her costumes fill some glass cases

just to remind us that there’s no such thing

as society, just people and power dressing.

The old museum said no at first

then there were rumours of a U-turn

as sharp as the one that failed to save

the General Belgrano. Who knows

what’s waiting for us on the catwalk

of history, where those who strutted,

can be brought back to life? But this

display will be a waste of time. Two

Bullingdon boys – well heeled, always

smartly dressed – have stolen the show:

discord, error, doubt and despair

are back in fashion. With a similar swagger.

Categorised in: Article

This post was written by John Lane