Too Close To Cliche (Poetry)

It is way too close to cliché
those ideas they’re trotting out
not a radical among them
nothing new to shout about

They have swallowed the whole rule book
and regurgitate the pill
full paragraph by paragraph
of someone else’s will

So if it sounds a tad familiar
like you’ve heard it all before
it’s just something they’ve recycled
no fresh voices any more

There’s a ban on inspiration
any phrase that stirs the blood
there is safety in the cliché
familiarity is good

Warn the writer, tell the artist
they should copy from the past
and churn out the non-offensive
in the light of what’s forecast

It’s the day of the dictator
law will censor what men say
in the novel, on the canvas
culture’s now one big cliché