𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐄! 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐄! 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐄!!

Tags

Australian poet, Covid lockdown fines, Covid-19 lock-down, Limerick poem, Limerick poetry, poem, poetry

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐄! 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐄! 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐄!!

The way to control is now clear:
Rebellion must cost them too dear.
We’ll take till they’re poor,
For one thing is sure —
It’s fines that these free-thinkers fear.

— D.N. O’Brien

(If only the Bolsheviks could have been fined into submission….)

The Great Weakening

Tags

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

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠

No longer are you brave and bold.
The ash of your courage is cold.
“Have mercy!” you ask
From behind your mask.
Just shut up and do as you’re told!

— D.N. O’Brien

Locking Down Minds

Tags

Covid-19 lock-down, poem, poetry, Triolet

𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠  𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧  𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬

Lockdown! The healthy and the young — panic!

Old people who are close to death may die!

A virus circulates this year, so quick,

Lockdown! The healthy and the young — panic!

Though you may hardly notice that you’re sick,

Do as you’re told! And don’t you dare ask why!

Lockdown! The healthy and the young — panic!

Old people who are close to death may die!

— D.N. O’Brien

Anastasia

Tags

Australian poet, Covid-19 lock-down, Formal poetry, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, poem, poetry, Queensland border closure, Queensland Premier Anastasia Palaszczuk, sonnet, Spenserian sonnet

𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐚

Some names should be reserved for only one;
And Anastasia is just such a name.
Her beauty blighted by the tyrant’s gun,
A legendary figure she became.
The forces of the Left of course to blame
For such a monstrous crime — a cruel blow.
Snuffed out, this brightly burning royal flame;
The flowers of youth buried beneath the snow —
Her and her kin all slaughtered by the foe.

Now what of this pretender on her throne?
This accidental leader of the low?
If she’s a heart, then it is made of stone.
A bat straight out of Hell now wears the label,
Of the Grand Duchess from a Russian fable.

— D.N. O’Brien

Queensland Premier Anastasia Palaszczuk stops father’s visit to terminally ill child

Pregnant with Incitement!

Tags

Australian poet, Covid-19 lock-down, Dan Andrews Premier of Victoria, limerick, Limerick poem, Limerick poetry, poem, poetry, Pregnant woman arrested in Australia

𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭!

Listen guys — there’s a girl on the loose,
And she’s heavy with child we deduce.
She’s a protest inciter;
A damned freedom fighter!
Surround her — then tighten the noose!

— D.N. O’Brien

Pregnant Australian woman arrested after Facebook post

The Idiots

Tags

Australian poet, Authoritarian governments, Covid-19 lock-down, Draconian laws, Gulags, limerick, Limerick poem, Limerick poetry, Lock-down skeptics, poem, poetry

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐭𝐬

With the government they disagree.
They are dangerous — man can’t you see?
They won’t do as they’re told!
They are far, far too bold!
Is it wise to let such fools run free?

They must be confined for their own good.
They’re a threat to the whole neighbourhood!
They must be forced to stay
In a camp far away —
Felling trees, mining coal, chopping wood.

I believe that it’s been done before,
To reactionaries who broke the law.
The new rules they must learn,
Else don’t let them return;
They’ll be prisoners — prisoners of war.

— 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

Zombie Shopping

Tags

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

𝐙𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠

Their masks hide grimaces or crazy smiles —
The zombies of the supermarket aisles;
Each pushing jerkily a shopping cart.
(They mumble as they stay 6 feet apart.)
The living dead deplete the shining shelves,
(These are restocked each night by eager elves.)
Until their carts all overflow with stuff.
(It’s said most zombies never have enough.)
Then off they go to stand upon their X,
Pay with a card — not zombie cash or cheques.
The checkout chicks, the zombie bags won’t pack;
A zombie virus waits there to attack.
The zombies don’t complain; they pack their bags,
Then trundle off to buy their booze and fags.
So daily do the zombies come in flocks,
And since the supermarkets have no clocks,
They wander round and cough and sneeze and fart
For hours — still staying 2 metres apart.

— D.N. O’Brien

Keeping Safe

Tags

Australian poet, castle keep, Covid-19 lock-down, Formal poetry, poem, poetry, Triolet

𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞

The enemy has breached our flimsy walls!
Don’t worry we are locked up in the keep.
From high above a startled sentry calls:
The enemy has breached our flimsy walls!
(And unlike us the enemy has balls.)
Our minders tell us to go back to sleep.
The enemy has breached our flimsy walls!
Don’t worry we are locked up in the keep.

— D.N. O’Brien

Muzzled

Tags

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

𝐌𝐮𝐳𝐳𝐥𝐞𝐝

He’s wearing a mask — what a sight!
Oh yes! He is muzzled alright.
I can’t see his teeth!
They’re hidden! Good grief!
How loudly he barks! Will he bite?

— D.N. O’Brien