« November 2004 | Main | January 2005 »
December 17, 2004
off to see the blizard
Sorry folks, we're off to wintry uk, back very late January, no new entries / comments b4 then.
have a gr8 Chrissie
alan
Posted by alan at 4:38 AM
December 5, 2004
Kidding Myself in Kuta - a Pantoum
They've hired too many actors for the scene
The piles of bodies really are a laugh
The wounds are so extreme that they're obscene
With limbs ripped off and bodies cut in half
The piles of bodies really are a laugh
The blood however excellently done
With limbs ripped off and bodies cut in half
While all around the crimson rivers run
The blood however excellently done
Confused? Concussed? A little drunk perhaps
While all around the crimson rivers run
I am the one in shock who laughs and claps
Confused? Concussed? A little drunk perhaps
At last it dawns, there is no camera crew
I am the one in shock who laughs and claps
Hawaiian shirt with blood now streaming through
At last it dawns, there is no camera crew
A laugh chokes in my throat, I'm sobbing now
Hawaiian shirt with blood now streaming through
A man in white sticks something on my brow
A laugh chokes in my throat, I'm sobbing now
The frantic search for living victims starts
A man in white sticks something on my brow
He smiles and whispers sorry and departs
The frantic search for living victims starts
A second man comes close, and shakes his head
He smiles and whispers sorry and departs
I can't accept I'm very nearly dead
A second man comes close, and shakes his head
I do not want to face my life's conclusion
I can't accept I'm very nearly dead
It's just a film: my final self delusion
I do not want to face my life's conclusion
They've hired too many actors for the scene
It's just a film: my final self delusion
The wounds are so extreme that they're obscene
Published in Quadrant No 410 (October 2004)
Selected in Best Australian Poems 2004, ed Les Murray
Black Inc, Melbourne Australia, ISBN 186 395 2055
Posted by alan at 8:50 AM | Comments (3)
December 3, 2004
Iraqi Bloom
In desert sands
A fragile flower
Survives
While up above
Mad demons toy
With lives
The man kneels down
Beside the bloom
To pray
Reminded of
His garden
Far away
A place of peace
For which he'd risk
His life
He sees them wave:
His children and
His wife
He spoke to them
In words that
Must be said
The awful truth
'I shot a man
He's dead'
The sniper spits:
'Invader!
Infidel!'
He fires to send
The kneeling man
To hell
The bullet hits
Explodes inside
His head
His final sight
A blossom
Splashed with red
(c) Alan Smith 2002, first appeared
in Volition No 3, Melbourne 2002
Posted by alan at 8:40 PM | Comments (2)