Collateral Damage

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Australian poet, poem, poetry, Triolet, War with Iran

𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞

Our enemies will die if we wage war;
We can’t have that — think of their wives and kids!
War will result in carnage — blood and gore!
Our enemies will die if we wage war;
And we must love our enemies, therefore,
We’ll do whatever any tyrant bids.
Our enemies will die if we wage war;
We can’t have that — think of their wives and kids!

— D.N. O’Brien

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Watchdog

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Australian poet, Facebook Algorithm, Facebook censorship, poem, poetry, sonnet, Spenserian sonnet

Watchdog

The Facebook algorithm never sleeps.
It’s watching everything you post or view.
It scrutinizes Facebook friends and peeps.
Right now I’m sure that it is watching you!
Its methodology is nothing new —
It looks for keywords in the things you post,
And phrases will get its attention too.
It haunts the Facebook pages like a ghost,
And if it catches you, you may be toast!
And so be careful with your use of words,
For Facebook is a temperamental host.
The algorithm is controlled by nerds
Who think that they know best what’s good for you,
Despite the fact that they’re a brainwashed crew.

— D.N. O’Brien

Suffer the Little Children

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Australian Jihadists, Australian poet, Children of Islamist terrorists, Formal poetry, ISIS, Islamic infiltration, Islamic State, Islamization, limerick, Limerick poem, Limerick poetry, Nieveta, poem, poetry

𝐒𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧

What chance that these little Jihadies,
(The offspring of murderous baddies)
Now helpless and small,
No danger at all,
Grow up to be just like their daddies.

— D.N. O’Brien

Terrorist’s kids to come home

Beyond the Pale

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Alan Joyce, Australian poet, Israel Folau, Israel Folau sacking, poem, poetry, QANTAS, Rugby Australia

𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐞

The short gay Irishman named Joyce,
He has a quite annoying voice.
The faith of footballer Israel,
Joyce says is way beyond the pale.
(It’s not a trendy “lifestyle choice”).

— D.N. O’Brien

Latham attacks QANTAS Joyce

Hate Speech

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Australian poet, censorship, Hate Speech, hate speech laws, poem, poetry, Triolet

Hate Speech

I hate to tell you this, but hate’s been banned;
All hated hate has been replaced by love.
And though your hate I fully understand,
I hate to tell you this, but hate’s been banned;
There’ll be no hate allowed throughout the land.
And just in case you missed the news above:
I hate to tell you this, but hate’s been banned;
All hated hate has been replaced by love.

— D.N. O’Brien

Far Right

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Australian poet, Far-left, Far-right, poem, poetry, Triolet

Far Right

I’m to the right, that’s obvious I’d say.
No you’re far-right, there’s no such thing as “right”!
You’d best take a turn left, and right away!
I’m to the right, that’s obvious I’d say,
And to the right is where I wish to stay;
But you, it seems, are spoiling for a fight —
I’m to the right, that’s obvious I’d say.
No you’re far-right, there’s no such thing as “right”!

— D.N. O’Brien

Resurrection: Ertugrul

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Diriliş: Ertuğrul, Ertugrul, Kayi tribe, Netflix shows, Oghuz Turk, Osman I, Petrarchan sonnet, President Erdogan, Resurrection - Ertugrul, Turkish TV shows, Turkmen

Resurrection: Ertugrul

Ertugrul bey, you are as strong as steel.
No blade can blunt or block your slashing sword.
You are of all the Turks the greatest lord,
And all the other beys at your feet kneel.
And should one not, your dagger’s edge he’ll feel
Cold on his throat — he’ll gather no reward
In Heaven when his blood is spilled, outpoured
From severed veins. His martyrdom you’ll steal.

But having sung your praises now I say:
Why are the Templar and Byzantine Knights
You fight, such awful swordsmen? Not a scratch
Your Alps receive while killing them. Oh pray
Tell me, is this your dream? One-sided fights?
In dreams the strongest foes we all outmatch.

— D.N. O’Brien

The Netflix TV series “Resurrection: Ertugrul”, or to give it its Turkish name: “Diriliş: Ertuğrul” is a very entertaining, if perhaps somewhat inaccurate (as far as we know) portrayal of the Oghuz Turk hero and leader, Ertugrul of the Kayi tribe. His tribe had been driven out of present Kazakhstan, or maybe present day Iran, in the time of his father, Suleyman Shah, either by the Mongols or other Turkmen tribes.

Ertugral was the father of Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Empire, and we know that because Osman I had coins minted showing Ertugrul as his father — virtually nothing else is known about Ertugrul.

Turkish folk law however, paints a very heroic and colourful picture of Ertugrul and his Kayi tribe, and it seems the writers of the TV series (5 series to date, each of some 90 episodes) have drawn from this rich source (plus their copious imaginations) to produce an action-packed, often bloody, and always profoundly Islamic spectacle.

The show is not just about Ertugrul of course. In the first series he is just one of two young brothers, sons of Suleyman Shah, but as time goes on he becomes the central character. There are other major characters — I won’t go into that here as the plots can be very complex, but suffice to say, there are good and evil Turks, evil Mongolians and Christians (yes pretty much only evil), and of course beautiful women (Turks and Christians). The Islamic scholar and mystic, Ibn Arabi, drifts in and out, and seems to have a personal interest in Ertugrul and his tribe. His long lectures to enraptured audiences can get a little painful at times, but there is the FF button on the remote.

The basic story outline is that the Turks are moving further into Anatolia and coming into contact with the Byzantine Empire frontier and this is resulting in clashes with the Christians. Initially the clashes are with Templar Knights and they are characterized as very evil indeed, but later the fighting is with the knights of the Byzantine Empire. At the same time they are having to fight off the advancing Mongols to the north and east. It is an imaginative prelude to Osman I establishing his initially quite small Ottoman Empire in Anatolia — an empire which would spread far and wide in the centuries following his death.

The acting is excellent, (I’ve never seen actresses who are better at crying than these Turkish women), the fighting (mainly sword-fighting, and I’ll come to that later in more detail) scenes are bloody and skillful, and the acrobatics of the guys who’ve just received a killer chop to the throat or chest, spectacular — I didn’t realize that a sword-fighter who receives such a blow does 2 or 3 midair spins before landing (awkwardly) or that a fighter receiving an arrow in the chest flies 6 feet off the ground — the stunt men are brilliant. The main actors themselves seem to do their own stunts, and their horse-riding skills are quite remarkable.

Ertugrul is usually accompanied by a small but incredibly skilled and deadly (and lucky) group. There are about 10 or so in the group but I’ll only mention 2 here, as the others tend to change from time to time as they are either killed (rare) or move on to somewhere else. These two are Turgut, a big handsome Alp (Alp is Turkish for hero) who swings his battle axe with deadly results, and Bamsi, a strange sort of bumbling but good-natured fellow who takes great delight in removing numerous infidel heads with his two swords. He finishes up the chief Alp of the Kayi tribe strangely enough.

I’ve seen this group and even fewer beat off and kill scores of Christian Knights without any of them suffering so much as a minor flesh wound. Their fighting skills have to be seen to be believed, (Or not believed). The skills of the Christian Knights (apart from their commanders) are pitifully inadequate, despite hours and hours of practice. On top of that they wear white robes with a great big red cross emblazoned in the center — a handy aiming point for a Turk arrow or scimitar.

I’m presently up to episode 28 of the 4th series and have noticed a gradual but interesting change in one particular aspect of the show. Perhaps you guessed it — religion.

The show is always very pro Islam and there’s no doubt of course that it is propaganda, but with each new series the Islamic component increases. The shouts of “Allahu Akbar!” increase greatly in number and frequency, and “Inshallah” becomes the most common word uttered. The Christians meanwhile are becoming more and more evil and the (good) Muslims more saintly and admirable.

Still, I guess it was made mainly for a Turkish audience and that country has plenty of problems. Maybe this is more than just TV; perhaps it is an attempt to instill pride in the Turkish people as a whole through Islam. Maybe insulting the non Muslims in Turkey is not a problem, and I guess if you really believe in the writings of the Koran and Islam’s other holy books — if you really believe that Muhammad rode to the seven heavens on a winged horse, plus all of his other miracles, you’re not going to be too worried about the feelings of a few billion people outside of Turkey.

From all accounts the further east one goes in Turkey the more religious, the more fundamentalist the people are, and the faster they are reproducing. The western Turks are generally much more moderate apparently, more Western, and like the West not doing much in the way of breeding — I dare say they are worried about being swamped by their eastern cousins. On top of that they have the Kurds and what’s left of ISIS and the Syrians, plus their own internal tribalism to worry about.

But if this show is anything to go by, if these Turks can really handle being outnumbered 10 to 1 and still win, then we had better watch out if they decide to resurrect their Empire, their Caliphate! After all, Ertugrul often talks of conquering the whole world in the name of Islam.

That said, it’s still a damn fine show! — I’ll bet President Erdogan doesn’t miss an episode.

— D.N. O’Brien

Secrets

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Australian poet, National Security, poem, poetry, State secrets, Traitors, Treason, Triolet

𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬

From public knowledge, some things must be kept,
Or else our enemies will also know.
We have no love of secrecy — except,
From public knowledge some things must be kept.
Our enemies at spying are adept —
They seek to know all of our secrets, so,
From public knowledge some things must be kept,
Or else our enemies will also know.

— D.N. O’Brien

A Pressing Problem

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Australian poet, Military secrets, Official secrets, poem, poetry, Press freedom, State secrets, Treason, Triolet

𝐀 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦

We want to publish every fact and lie!
And even all the secrets of the State!
We care not that some foreign friends may die.
We want to publish every fact and lie!
You wish us to be prudent? Tell us why!
Security? Your rules we’d abrogate!
We want to publish every fact and lie!
And even all the secrets of the State!

— D.N. O’Brien

Sarah Island

Tags

Australian poet, Australian traditional poetry, Convicts in Australia, Macquarie cat, Macquarie Harbour, Penal settlements, poem, poetry, Sarah Island Tasmania, sonnet, Spenserian sonnet, Tasmania, Transportation of convicts, Transportation to Australia, Van Diemen's Land

Sarah Island

There are few signs that once this lonely isle
Was home to men of Empire and their slaves.
Just scattered bricks, worked stone, and shards of tile,
Remind us of when England ruled the waves.
But no doubt close at hand forgotten graves
Hold bones of some of those who trod this ground —
The convicts of The Crown, and other knaves,
Who for Macquarie Harbour once were bound;
And where they’d surely hear the dreaded sound
Of the “Macquarie Cat” — that fiendish whip.
Those men who died in chains and those who drowned,
Were payments made for every well-built ship.
“Hell’s Gates” the convicts called the harbour’s mouth —
Beyond it lay the Hades of the South.

— D.N.O’Brien

Sarah Island