Markets
Stock, premium bonds, deeds, deals
worth more than vats of weighty gold
lighter than liquid cash - as thin as air.
Electronic portfolios built on sand,
on quagmires of reliable human greed;
a matter of speculative risk, called trust.
And trusting the process.
Fish, bush, pawn-markets,
and even the super ones -
complete substitutes for heaven
with cafes, bars, amusement arcades
to boot.
All trading in dividends, equity, assets,
else why would they do it?
Reliant on mutually agreed protocols;
the certitude of faith in hope
- backed-up and out
with every small-print imaginable...
...thus jinxing the purpose -
apart from sheer cunning and luck.
Credit - whether plastic cards
or promissory paper notes
stashed in vaults or clouds, no matter.
It’s all the same idea, based on an idea:
consumer confidence and investment,
under-written by jurisprudence,
insurance safeguards and material clout,
whilst sharks surf the waves,
abetted by angel investors
and big fat unicorns
whether bullish or bearish
for pickings, errors, neap tides or low;
opportunity, chance, seasonal patterns
reflecting expectations of global trade,
inflationary inevitabilities
and the exponential curves of growth,
to crash and then reverse.
Who needs to work the soil,
grow food and rear livestock
when high tech answers it all
with cultured test-tube meat
genetically disease-proofed plants
and a hybrid cyborg populace.
All that’s left is to war over water and air;
tax and set a price for every breath,