Ministry Of Gobbledygook [rev.] Poem by Margaret Alice Second

There was so little to say that I said it with aplomb,
and like so little in statistics I embroidered details
of when writing my Assessment, told the listening
ears of fun in translating bureaucracy of a country
in Africa with noun strings forming new amalgams
such as “Public Service Work Force Numbers” &

Strange appellations “Ministry of Budget Payroll
Department' and the “Public Service Payroll”; it’s
funny since terms coined by author Joan Aiken, i.e.,
“Ministry of Alarm & Despondency” describe where
readers are told a laundry basket at the entrance
receives all unwanted correspondence

There’s a General Gloom Division where people
carry Magic Insurance cards and complain to the
Public Magician; after such a story it’s delightful to
be employed by our Ministry of Cultural Goons in
the Division for Magicking Blue & White into Red
and where we have to account for every official

Gulp of oxygen we take, explain the effect of our
star sign on the shoes we choose to wear & why
we burst into tears when the word aircon is used,
wear sleeveless tops in the middle of winter and
leg warmers through summer; I love our Superb
Ministry of Gobbledygook & Diddlydoo for

Fiddlesticks where music notes follow me in the
air as I float down the stairs yodelling with joy -
for being alive in Voltaire’s best of all universes,
if you know what I mean