Next election onwards,
there’ll be a second vote for those
who turn up with, under their arm,
a print copy of one of the larger newspapers
and answer a few unobtrusive questions
to prove they’ve consumed it correctly.

A third for those who also present receipts
that show they’ve dined sufficiently
in restaurants with at least four stars,
and a note from the maitre d
that they know their way around the cutlery.

A fourth for the lucky few in possession – to boot –
of a ticket for one of those pampering spas
at which one temporarily discards
worldly things to have one’s darker parts
irrigated of all subversive thoughts.

So when all’s said and counted,
people who shouldn’t matter
can go back to not mattering.