Carol Ann Duffy




Swearing In

Combover, thatch-fraud, rug-rogue, laquer-lout;
twitter-rat, tweet-twat, tribe-gob, muckspout.

Sleaze-serf, poke-knave, bribe-berk*, bedswerver;
hand-mangler, kids-mitts, thumb-sucker, fist-jerker.

News-maggot, lie-monger, tongue-trickster, crap-grubber;
smell-feast, guzzle-chops, snout-linger, burger-blubber.

Tie-treader, tan-faker, draft-dodger, piss-douse;
fraud-hawker, golf-plonker, bigot-merchant, shite-louse.

Mandrake Mymmerkin^, welcome to the White House.



*berk = fool, prat, twit - in Cockney means cunt
^Mymmerkin = A deformed or freakish person or a dwarf creature (Scottish English)
Duffy wrote the poem using the Old English poet format of kenning.
A kenning is a compound word with a metaphorical meaning: example: oar-steed = ship