Protest.

.

He could have stayed silent,
Our poet of outrage.
Safe, secluded in his room,
Of books.

His words, his thoughts, his anger
Escaped to lesser minds,
Outside, where convenient
Stones lay.

Written for Magpie Tales. Sorry, I could find nothing funny in this sad indictment of violence.

Visible Means of Support.

Said Bob Sullivan in court,
 ‘Your Honour is mistaken.
Penniless I may appear,
And food, have not partaken.

 To wealthy folk, like you Milord,
 It may seem I have nothing.
But I can show you, beyond doubt;
I have a penny-farthing.

Please visit Magpie Tales for poetic and storytelling treats.

Off today for my last cruise in Heavy Metal... sold and being delivered.. Boo Hoo!

My mother said:

“Man is an explorer
Who looks for places hidden;
And likes it even better still
If it’s somewhat forbidden.

 So when it’s time to go to bed,
And loving art, finessing;
It’s best you keep a little on,
To always keep him guessing.

Now, think of what to hide away
That keeps him hot and bothered,
By all means show the rest of you,
But keep the mystery covered.”

 Joe Cocker got it right! Thanks Tess at Magpie Tales for your photo…er prompt.

Tones Apart.

G and A in treble,
G and A in bass!
Tootsies very pretty,
(Like to see her face).

Sandals on piano stool,
Bottom on the lid,
Heels upon the music shelf
Rest of her is hid!

I wonder why, and then I know
The rest is really plain.
Because, if it was beautiful.
She’d have it in the frame!

Thanks Tess for a lovely photo to play with... is it you? :-)

Snow business.

Snow can be lovely, the subject of art
And too much at once, a matter apart.
But why, in God’s name
Would anyone sane,
Gather it up to put in their cart?

If you like this, you will like this better.

Background check..

For many years, the ‘cellists train
To play so well, for little gain.
But cast a thought
For artists, caught
While painting landscapes in the rain!

For poems and stories that stick to the script, go visit The Magpie.

Insanity

To live where weather's wild and raw
You must be mad, or really poor.
But if there you must reside
You'd better take your bike inside,
And quickly shut the bloody door!?

Thanks Tess, nice to find you are still here after my sabbatical. And thanks for another wonderful prompt.

Choices

Are you one of those, like my deceased but loved friend Peter Cairns, who always seemed to think of the perfect rejoinder, right then, in real time, perfect and unanswerable? Well, I am not and I fear, never will be. So typically, I did not think of this one until after the event and by then it would have been impolite to bring it up and I would have revealed my self as a smart arse, a fact known to some but I try to limit its spread.
We were sitting having a drink with our friend Ethel on Boxing Day who had just been telling us the gruesome details of her husband's brachytherapy treatment for prostate cancer. Following that, the next subject raised was climate change, not by me, you will be surprised to know, but by another, less knowing of the host's attitudes to such 'Green conspiracies'. All chance of an exchange of ideas was dashed when the hostess declared; "I don't believe in climate change and neither does Bert!" I looked out the window at the yachts and took another sip of white wine, a cowardly intellectual retreat, when I should have said: "What a quaint thing to say! Saying you don’t believe in climate change is equivalent to saying you don't believe in prostate cancer, a well proven reality. However, you do have a choice to believe or not believe in its treatment, as you do with climate change.”

Typhoon Tony

I thought I had seen denial at its worst, when in the sixties, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Big Tobacco paraded expert after expert stating unequivocally that tobacco was not only not harmful, but was good for you. Now we have the same mob running interference for Big Energy, as we ramp up coal exports and load it in one of the most sensitive environments on the planet, the Great Barrie Reef!

This Sunday I will march for the first time in protest against our new government’s determination to defund and unwind most of the hard won carbon abatement programs created over the last six years.

I guess it had to happen, but when Abbott started calling Shorten “Electricity Bill”, implying falsely that Labor’s Carbon Pricing caused the huge rises in electricity prices suffered over the last few years, when it was mostly pushed up by infrastructure expenditure, the nick names started.

 

Christine Milne of the Greens was next in with “Typhoon Tony”, after it was suggested that extreme weather events would become more frequent and even more extreme as climate warmed, and repeal of the Carbon Price would exacerbate the problem. Now I would like to add two more.

 

“Hurricane Hunt”, our Minister for climate change denial and “Bushfire Bishop”, our deputy PM, mistress of the Death Stare and fellow climate change denier.  

As they said, when it was suggested by the Greens that climate change would cause more extreme bush fires, like those that raged through the Blue Mountains last month and that Typhoon Haiyan was a portent of worse to come, they were chided for ‘politicising misery’. But as one commentator asked; “If this is not the time to look at the implications of climate change, when should we?”

Action Man.

 

 

This is not a criticism of Tony Abbott’s attendance at fires as a member of his brigade, or his bike riding in events that raise money for charity. They show he is a ‘good bloke’. However, perhaps the fact that he still pursues those activities after becoming Prime Minister, our Chief CEO, could be an indication of his management style and it could be fair to wonder if he is ready for the big picture.

 

Denying that wild fires in Australia are influenced by Climate Change, while running around the bush with a fire hose, may be the clue that explains why he favours a policy of direct action over a cap and trade system to mitigate climate change. One would expect a Conservative to have more faith in a market driven system than one that must meddle and cherry pick its targets, needing a dedicated bureaucracy, charged with the task of deciding where, when and how much is to be give polluters not to pollute. One wonders why he doesn’t pay Philip Morris to stop making so many cigarettes!

One suspects that his direct action policy is really driven by his determination continue to negate every Labor initiative, regardless of merit. Let’s hope he lets go the ideology and starts to think things through. Tony’s scattergun approach to problem solving is also revealed by his ideas of buying up Indonesian fishing boats (since withdrawn) and his tree planting pledge (since withdrawn). Germaine Greer was right to ask: (paraphrased) “How can a government headed by a Rhodes Scholar be so stupid?”

So here we are, with apparently intelligent people, defending the indefensible, about to witness the repeal of the only mechanism experts agree has any chance of delivering lower emissions in a world that is burning up before our eyes, simply because Action Man wanted so desperately to become PM and stay there. If he continues to deny the science, let’s hope Tanya Plibersek gets her wish that he is indeed One Term Tony. With the whole world desperately needing leadership on the big issues of overpopulation and climate change, being a member of a fire brigade is not enough.