There’s Less Pretence in Odense

John Davison

There’s really so much Lego down in Langley
It’s the tactile token no-one dares to track. 
The Danes have hubs of direct data cables
And Uncle Sam’s the chap to watch their back. 

They’re not afraid to spy upon their allies,
The Baltic Sea comes lapping at their shore,
Those Langley spooks are keen to scan that data 
There’s just no Tallinn what they’ll use it for! 

Development continues in Crimea
And mighty ships call at Kaliningrad,
With diplomatic channels so corroded 
Is spying amongst partners always bad? 

They like to browse those diplomatic cables,
Quite keen to seek authenticated text,
Mine secrets of Estonia’s - both factual and erroneous 
Which piece of Nato’s jigsaw will be next? 

Relationships with Russia are so rocky
And Finland cannot sit upon the fence,
How strong are ties to German based investors? 
Let’s intercept some cables from Odense! 

We know that Saab is seeking out more orders, 
That Hungary is shifting to the right.
As Belarus gets nervous of reporters
Those sanctions on Iran will fiercely bite. 

The focus is receding from Benghazi,
There is hope that oil will still flow from Iraq,
But there’s really so much Lego down in Langley 
It’s the tactile token no-one dares to track.

The Science

The poem is inspired by the long-established and fairly secretive science behind encoding international communications (particularly diplomatic cables) and intercepting these. It also takes a sideswipe at the upsurge of interest in crypto-currencies by imagining that a popular and well-known children's toy (Lego) might be used by the Danish military to reward partners surreptitiously for collaborative work beneficial to Denmark's defence or economic interests. The work addresses the issue of diversity insofar as it spotlights the perpetual tensions within a large multi-national body such as Nato, which always has to appear unified to tax-paying citizens throughout member states despite the sudden changes that occur within those countries (and to an extent regional assemblies), particularly those managed under multi-party coalitions that might well have uncertain time frames ahead of them. Since the Danish spying scandal broke, the differential treatment of Belarusian and Saudi Arabian inspired pursuit of journalists, the Greeks' hostile response to boats carrying Syrian, Kurdish and Iraqi families (amongst others) across the Aegean Sea, the withdrawal of Sentinel and Sentry aircraft from RAF service (and the reduced Poseidon order), and - most blatantly - the hurried evacuation of Afghan colleagues (with crucial assistance from Qatar) have all drawn attention to weaknesses within Nato and it's uncomfortable dependency (in extremis) on regimes that do not share its overall social values.

The Poet

John Davison is a London-born performance poet with a fondness for parody, comedic verse and surrealism. He supports open mic events, partly because of their mixing of poetry and musicians, and assists Poets Unite Worldwide with some editorial tasks. That latter role includes supportive work with many writers to whom English is a second language. He has previously worked for a local planning authority as an access officer.  

Next poem: We are the Proteasome by Osasu Oscar Igbinedion