Price

And so the doors
of prestige and celebrity, 
of power and money
are being flung open one by one.

As each door opens, a person falls out,
someone who we assumed was

upstanding
trustworthy
truth telling
or
at the very least
in possession of
a moral compass.

Each person falls at our feet
and looks up at us.

This is the bittersweet price that is paid
when a country finds itself in thrall
to a monster.

The monster is in our house.
We put him there
and somehow he is still there.
Perhaps the gnarled hands
of political power
and insulated fame
are stronger than we thought,
or perhaps we have been weakened
by our impotent fury.

So we turned the monster's tale in on itself
and are opening the doors behind which
other monsters are hiding.

We are starting at the bottom
and working our way up.

Just as we cannot reach the top of a mountain
or climb to the top of a tree
by  jumping at the middle,
so we have discovered we cannot
unseat the monster
without first dismantling his throne.

Prepare yourself monster.

We are on our way
up.