Page 73 - The Irony Board

Into the World

Oleogarchy

Far out upon
The oleo seas,
Oleo sails sag
In an oleo breeze.

Captain and crew
Sit in the hold,
Guarding the oleo
As if it were gold.

And from up above,
Oleo stars shine
On the oleo ship
In the oleo brine.

This allegory of the ship of state comes from Gluckman’s early
years, a period of Dadaist influence on his style. Human beings are
the only elements here not composed of meaningless margarine.
Everything else has lost its character, thanks to the communal
obsession with a pure lump of the stuff. The vessel drifts; oleo
cannot provide a motive force. Even the heavens, reservoir of man’s
hopes and dreams, have nothing but oleo to offer.
The world has been corrupted by a single idea, one which knows
no bounds: the idea of possessive power. Once value has been given
to false idols, the rest of the cosmos is devalued. Oleo is money.
Oleo is domination. Oleo is self-importance. The oligarchs of a
nation set the standard: whatever they value most will spread like
butter across the breadth of the land; the citizenry will not know it
for an imitation.

71