Sunday, January 26, 2014

675 : Concentrating the Mind

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #145) presents a list of words
that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

country, (facilitate), aspect, sent, strands, state,
sustain, write, time, plans, embrace, juggling

In my previous post I dealt with the word ‘facilitate’, 
So it is excluded from this post.

Concentrating the Mind
Writing on a Wrong - Australia Day 2014

Before we start I would like to pay homage 
to the traditional owners of the land:
Pseudocheirus peregrinus.  
Thank you.

This country has,
Over time,
Embraced visitors
From everywhere.
Granted, it has not always been smooth
Some jostling,
Some juggling,
But each arrival
Has added new strands
To the tapestry that is us today.
We are a symphony,
Not a solo.

So how do we explain
The nastiness,
The callousness,
Of our elected government?
The state has become 
The champion 
Of fear, of hatred, 
Of cynical disregard
Of pain and suffering.
Desperate people
Are sent away,
Forced away,
Locked away
Rot away,
Mentally decay,
Everyday.

When the public accept 
This behavior,
They sustain it,
Normalise it.
But if this aspect 
Of government behavior,
Cruelty and disdain,
Becomes normal,
What other plans do they have?
What incremental steps,
Will we see next?
Are you safe?
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2014
---

Print this post

16 comments:

  1. A chilling indictment, the form of the poem accentuates the horrors.

    BTW did you mean "disdain" in the final stanza?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow - beautifully written, socially active and thought provoking - what more could one ask?

    ReplyDelete
  3. that final question - leaves me a little uneasy!

    ReplyDelete
  4. A thoughtful write..I saw in my diary that holocaust remembrance day and Australia Day were the same date..Immigration is a similar issue here..taken to its conclusion perhaps nobody is safe..

    ReplyDelete
  5. you hit the mark with this... those questions stated have been surfacing in the back of my mind...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow! so glad you got 'facilitate' out of your system so you could pen this one! Strong, honest, provocative! What more can I ask of a poem on a Sunday morning with a pile of depressingly familiar newspapers staring me in the face!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I most love that you paid respect to the traditional owners of the land. Though aborigines do not believe in possessing land, they do know how to live on it and with it. I love your speaking out. Many more of us need to do the same. All over this planet.

    ReplyDelete
  8. that old R.E.M. song, it's the end of the world as we know it (and i feel fine) - except for that bit in the italics. the cabal continues ~

    ReplyDelete
  9. and now we have Agenda 21 to worry about!

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's the same question (or set of question) that we are asking now in Canada. Things are not looking good.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sobering piece. Well done.

    ReplyDelete
  12. You make some good observations in this piece, but it's the questions you pose that hammers the message home. Great food for thought here!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Well stated! And no, I don't think we are safe.
    (did you have a touch of the Dame Edna's with your intro?) :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Fear breeds fear, hatred breeds hatred........... love also breeds love, so there is hope as long as the mouse roars and ears around the world hear.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed. But it is hard not to be discouraged at times.

      Delete

You've come this far - thank you.
Take your time, look around,
There is lots to see.