Dodging

Tags

A.L.P., Australian Federal Election 2019, Australian Labor Party, Australian poet, hellfire missile, poem, poetry, Rockets, Triolet

Dodging

We dodged a bullet called the A.L.P..
More like a Hellfire missile I would say —
I felt its breath as it passed close by me.
We dodged a bullet called the A.L.P..
With you, my friend, I’ll have to disagree —
That rocket would have blown us all away.
We dodged a bullet called the A.L.P..
More like a Hellfire missile I would say.

— D.N. O’Brien

Vale Bob Hawke

Tags

Australian Labor Party, Australian poet, Bob Hawke dies, Bob Hawke former Prime Minister, Formal poetry, Malcolm Fraser, poem, poetry, sonnet, Spenserian sonnet, Vale Bob Hawke

Vale Bob Hawke

I voted for you Bob, the only time
I’ve voted for your party, I admit.
I thought it, way back then, a bloody crime
To vote for Fraser — what a pompous twit!
I liked what you stood for and yes, your wit.
You brought the unions into line; you tried
With some success the warring sides to knit —
You tried for peace. Although the gap was wide
You pulled it off. Oh yes, you turned the tide,
I’ll give you that. You made mistakes it’s true,
And I recall that once or twice you cried.
Now a pretender and his motley crew
Have risen up — but Bob they’re not the same;
To say they are — that just insults your name.

— D.N. O’Brien

Bob Hawke Dies

A Cashless Economy

Tags

Australian Federal Election 2019, Australian Labor Party, Australian poet, Formal poetry, poem, poetry, sonnet, Spenserian sonnet

A Cashless Economy

Labor is the way to Venezuela;
For socialism is their stock in trade.
Pink or red — one’s just a little paler;
Don’t let them in — you’ll see your freedoms fade.
They’ve been in power before and how we paid
For their mismanagement — the crippling debt,
The mess these mad misguided wreckers made.
They say they’ll pay you not to work? Don’t bet
Your life on it — those workers who now sweat
And earn to pay your way will lose their jobs,
And then the vote you cast you may regret.
Somebody has to make what Labor robs,
Or one day they will go to raid their stash,
And find that they have run right out of cash.

— D.N. O’Brien

Bill’s Boats

Tags

Australia stops illegal boat people, Australian Labor Party, Australian Liberal Party, Australian poet, Bill Shorten Labor Leader, Formal poetry, Illegal immigration, Manus Island, Nauru, Offshore processing of boat people, poem, poetry, sonnet, Spenserian sonnet, Turning back the boats

Bill’s Boats

With Bill in charge the boats will soon be back.
Wrecks once again will sail the briny seas.
Of “refugees” there will not be a lack,
As Labor and the Greens rush to appease
The U.N. – they will fall upon their knees
And beg forgiveness for sins of the past:
The mercilessness of their enemies –
The Liberal scum who on a far isle cast
The people of the boats – soon at half-mast
They’ll fly the flag, and mourn all those returned
To their homelands – state: “They will be the last!
Let no more boats be sunk! Let none be burned!”
Flotillas gather on those distant shores.
The going price to smuggle people soars.

Under Labor illegal boat arrivals will resume