Stop Press Poem by Aaron Marchant

Those headlines in the tabloid Press, salacious and lubricious
may seem like harmless intrigue, yet in time, prove meretricious;

The footballer, whose boot has been too heavy on the throttle,
The soap star, in a lather, that has taken to the bottle
The news broadcaster, caught up in the courtesan sex scandal
whose ardour cooled, when his story became too hot to handle

The medal-winning athlete, found to be self-medicating,
The politician, who's engaged in extra-marital-mating
The photographic model, snapped alfresco ‘In flagrante'
who became over-exposed via a long-lens vigilante

The fading movie queen that's been too liberal with the Botox,
The teen-dream idol now ensconced in rehab for a detox
The clergyman discovered to have an eye for the ladies
whose public denunciation, saw his career go to Hades

Such are the quarry of the hacks, who make their living off the backs
of other peoples painful plight, yet still sleep sound in bed at night
But is not too, the one that reads, complicit in their dubious deeds?
And will they too, who so consume, become an ethical vacuum?

Yes, would-be readers who would act, to keep their consciences intact
would be well-advised to avoid a daily dose of ‘schadenfreude'