Served Cold

This is the end of times. The times when
men and women shared awkward moments
now viewed as transgressions. Times when
juvenile distractions and unwarranted
entitlements were ascribed to the gender
with the momentum of 'the way it's always been'
and their opposites irrespective of discomfiting
unease practised that metaphorical shrug of
demeaned status. The pendulum has swung
and continues to swagger with the voice of
women declaring the empowerment of
revelations whose airing has the strength
of a court of public law. Those on the
receiving end of accusations of sexual
misconduct, manipulation, humiliation now
fully understand how the humble may one
day rise in numbers to overturn the status quo.
Living to rue their thoughtlessness, linked now
with the dread excesses of assault, reputations
flounder and positions of authority melt away
under public scorn. The guilty pay the freight
of authority misused in a game where the
accused bids farewell a lifetime of achievement
reduced to a shadow of shame. Those guilty
of mere stupidity are thrown into the hopper
their hopes for their future shredded beyond
repair. And the innocent, those maliciously
accused of having committed fallacious
indiscretions? They too become criminals
of the prevailing social order sweeping all in
the path of righteous revelatory revenge.