The Arts Are Not Important Copyright © Richard Whiting 2010

The Arts are not important;

The Blue-Pencil makes its mark;
A vein whose blood
Has lost its lustre
Knows no way back
To the reddening heart.

The axe-man destroys the stage.
Cuts rhythms into diminished octaves;
Gads about galleries with a knife;
Banishes books to a pyre
Which gives off no heat.

Creativity strangled on the vine;
Look at the watercolours
Left out to weep in the rain;
The songs which own no voice,
A poet’s words which die as fast
As falling desert snow.

And then, for one night only
She scores a massive hit.
The blue flashing footlights
Blink and give up her ghost.
In this back-alley play,
One-woman tragedy,
The final act.

The newspaper gives her
A single line review.
Famous for fifteen seconds.

Curtains.

The Arts are not important;

Right?