Modern Monetary Theory

Tags

Australian poet, Covid19 crisis, limerick, Limerick poem, Limerick poetry, Modern Monetary Theory, poem, poetry, Public sector debt

𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐲

Rejoice! — don’t surrender to sorrow!
Go spend as if there’s no tomorrow!
Now debt is all fiat!
You can’t even see it!
So borrow, and borrow, and borrow.

— D.N. O’Brien

Phony War

Tags

Australian poet, Covid-19 lock-down, limerick, Limerick poem, Limerick poetry, poem, poetry

𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐖𝐚𝐫

I admit I am somewhat annoyed;
For our wealth, it is being destroyed.
This is not a World War!
Nothing like one! What’s more —
In World Wars everyone is employed!

— D.N. O’Brien

Feelings

Tags

Australian poet, Emotional fragility, Feelings, Formal poetry, poem, poetry, Triolet

𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬

You’ve empathy for them? Hey man that’s great!
But don’t let fragile feelings take the wheel —
Between fiction and fact discriminate.
You’ve empathy for them? Hey man that’s great!
But best reality you contemplate,
For reason keeps one on an even keel.
You’ve empathy for them? Hey man that’s great!
But don’t let fragile feelings take the wheel.

— D.N. O’Brien

Choke

Tags

Australian 7th Division AIF, Australian poet, Australian traditional poetry, Formal poetry, Kokoda Trail, New Guinea, Owen Stanley Campaign, poem, poetry

(I was just a kid when I met this man in the very early sixties. He and a mate had called into our farm to see my father — dad had been their platoon sergeant during the Owen Stanley Campaign (Kokoda Trail). Dad told us the story later or at least started to tell us before not being able to continue. He (the ex-soldier) had been in the prone position firing at the Japanese when a bullet had hit him between the eyes near the nose. Because of the position of his head the bullet had passed through his mouth and voice box and out the back of his neck narrowly missing his spinal column. The war was over for him but he made a good recovery apart from a pronounced speech difficulty. )

Choke

I met a man who should have been quite dead.
I listened hard to hear the words he said.
He had a scar between his pale blue eyes,
And one upon his neck, of greater size.

He was my father’s friend, he said: “G’day”;
But in a strange and strangled muffled way.
I saw a tear run down my father’s cheek;
It was some time before my dad could speak.

— D.N. O’Brien

(Flag raising ceremony after the capture of Kokoda November 1942. My father, Sgt Allen Noel O’Brien is amongst these men.)

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝑾𝒂𝒗𝒆

Tags

Australian poet, Covid-19 lock-down, poem, poetry, Virus waves

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝑾𝒂𝒗𝒆

It is an undisputed law —
Waves roll forever to the shore.
And should one manage one to stave,
There follows soon another wave.
And where the ocean meets the land,
The waves will crash upon the sand;
Unfaltering they will attack,
And none but fools would hold them back —
Would labour to turn back the sea;
Would waste their foolish energy.

— D.N. O’Brien

Aboriginals

Tags

aboriginals, Australian poet, Common origins, Out of Africa, poem, poetry, Triolet

𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬

We all came out of Africa, they say;
We share this aboriginality.
No matter where we live and breathe today,
We all came out of Africa, they say.
And wandering has always been our way —
Our forebears ventured over land and sea.
We all came out of Africa, they say;
We share this aboriginality.

— D.N. O’Brien

The March of the Insane

Tags

BLM protest march, Petrarchan sonnet, poem, poetry, sonnet, U.S. riots 2020

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐞

With their hate exposed and their minds closed tight
They are marching on to that old red beat
Down the bloodied road and the blackened street.
They’re the nightmare spawned on the darkest night.
They’re the Marxists’ dream, both the black and white.
They’re the proof that the West’s decay’s complete,
With its bones now dust neath the marching feet
Of the damned divisions that smear and smite.

While they know not hunger nor great world war,
And no sacrifice has been asked of them,
Their precept’s the product of one mad brain —
And all but what pleases, it will ignore
And all that displeases, it will condemn,
For it is the master of crowds insane.

— D.N. O’Brien

States of Division

Tags

Australian poet, BLM protest march, poem, poetry, U.S. Civil War, U.S. riots 2020

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

A war most uncivil? A military coup?
There’s no going back, and the options are few.
Take heed of the lawlessness — look at the crime!
There’s one thing for sure — it is different this time.

— D.N. O’Brien

Controlled

Tags

Australian poet, control, Covid-19 lock-down, Culture of fear, Formal poetry, poem, poetry

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝

A frightened mindset now takes hold —
The narrative has been well-sold,
And counted is the gathered gold.

Though many in the past were bold,
These stronger souls have all grown old,
Or moulder in their graves so cold.

They were cast from a different mould.
They would not yield; they would not fold;
They would not do as they were told.

— D.N. O’Brien

The Army of the Retired

Tags

Australian poet, Formal poetry, poem, poetry, Political Correctness, sonnet, Spenserian sonnet

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝

They are the only army that will fight.
(The regulars have mostly gone to ground.)
The only soldiers who will stand for right —
Their shackled comrades dare not make a sound.
The regulars are silenced — gagged and bound,
Intimidated — forced down on their knees.
No more are they for bravery renowned;
They have their orders — run, retreat, appease.
They are the victims of the new disease —
They are afflicted by postmodern germs.
With heads bowed low, pale platitudes they wheeze.
But those who’ve served are free to state their terms:
They won’t be silenced by the baying mobs.
They’ll fight with words. (They don’t fear for their jobs.)

— D.N. O’Brien